Sony Interactive Entertainment hosted a panel at CEDEC (basically the Japanese GDC), in which Global Developer Technology Department Manager Kenjo Akiyama provided some interesting details on the habits of PS5 and PS4 users.
The data focuses on engagement with free-to-play games, online multiplayer, physical versus digital purchases, DLC, trophy acquisition, PlayStation VR utilization, and more.
We start with a look at the ratio of “Active Devices” summing both PS4 and PS5. The definition of “active device” means a console that has played at least a game in each given month between April 2021 and June 2022.
We notice that summing bot consoles it’s quite stable in all regions, but Akiyama-san mentioned that it’s increasing at a steady pace in favor of PS5 as players make the switch to PS5.
Next, we look at the ratio of active devices that engage in free-to-play games. The first graph focuses on PS4 consoles broken down by region, the second on PS5 consoles broken down by region, and the third compares PS4 and PS5.
It appears that PS4 users engage in F2P games more than PS5 users, and Asian players aren’t as interested in this category of games compared to other regions.
Next is online multiplayer, with American and European PlayStation users more engaged than their Japanese and Asian counterparts, while PS5 users are more active than PS4 users.