At a behind-closed-doors meeting today, Sony revealed the so-called “State of the Platform” when it comes to PlayStation 4.
“PS4’s are generally sold out at all retailers although regular supply is refreshing the channel,” one slide read during the presentation. Call of Duty: Ghosts, FIFA 14, and Battlefield 4 are the three best-selling games on the platform so far. Sony claims that it “has increased its market share” among what the company calls “heavy gamers,” or players that play a ton of games.
John Koller, PlayStation’s Vice President of Marketing, noted that PlayStation 4’s launch “hasn’t been like prior ones... this is a story of engagement.” He later said that “When demand outstrips supply, the promise of what’s to come is really critical.”
He reiterated the well-known number of consoles sold – 4.2 million worldwide so far – but shared other statistics as well that show deep engagement with the PlayStation community. For instance, PS4 gamers average a collective 34 million hours a week playing games on the console; that number rises to 50 million when you take into account entertainment options.
Additionally, 90 percent of PlayStation 4 consoles are connected to the Internet. It took PlayStation 3 three years on the market to reach a 70 percent connection rate.
PlayStation 4 gamers have shared their gameplay and screenshots 48 million times so far, 1.7 million hours have been spent livestreaming gameplay on Twitch and Ustream, and 172 million hours have been played online with PS4 so far.
Finally, digital sales on PlayStation Network are stronger than ever. Retail PlayStation Network card sales are up 120 percent year-over-year, and PlayStation Plus subscriptions are up 90 percent since the console’s launch.
We’re seeing a bunch of PlayStation 4 and PS Vita games today, and will share everything we played over the coming days and weeks.
Thanks to our good friends at IGN.
PlayStation 4 is of course still to launch in it's home country of Japan and in countries like Australia it's completely sold out.