Sony’s Playstation 5 is practically flying off the shelves in the COVID-19 pandemic. The gaming console has been perpetually out of stock at most retailers. The company’s analysis of the first five months of sales shows that the new generation Playstation has been able to attract significantly more customers since its launch in November than its predecessor could after its release in 2013. PS5 owners are also more engaged than PS4 owners were seven years ago. In the fifth month after the release, they gamed more than 51 hours on average compared to PS4 owners who only gamed for around 35 hours in March 2014, also five months after the older console’s release date.
Many gamers seem to have made the switch to the new console right at the time of the release. In the month of the PS5’s release, Sony already counted around 2.8 million monthly active users - the Playstation 4 had around 1.7 million at that time. In March 2021, the number of monthly active gamers took another jump up to 8.6 million, 20 percent more than the PS4 had at the comparable time.
The pandemic certainly helped the success of Sony's flagship gaming product along. Since people looked for ways to enhance their in-home entertainment, the high number of hours played on the PS5 can also be seen as a by-product of the quarantine lifestyle.
