There’s no secret that Sony’s PlayStation 4 is dominating the game market right now, with over ten million units sold in just under a year’s time. However, according to a new report from Nielsen, a third of that audience actually came in from playing on a previous console.
The study indicates that 31 percent of PS4 owners previously played games on an Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii, but not a PlayStation 3. Considering the games that Sony had made for that console, that’s quite an interesting jump, showing people’s interest in moving on to Sony’s playing field.
The study, which polled 1,200 gamers age 7 to 54 between February and April, also indicated that 17 percent of Sony’s PlayStation 4 buyers hadn’t previously owned a game console – again, a significant jump considering Sony’s staying power in the industry, as well as its growing game library.
“The 10m sell through in the first nine months is well beyond what we had hoped for,” said Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida. “I’m asking marketing people to tell us why. They’ve been to people who already purchased, and some of the early data was amazing in terms of the number of people who didn’t used to own PS3 have already purchased PS4. So we are getting lots of new customers coming into PlayStation. And some people never purchased any last-gen hardware: PS3, or Xbox 360 or Nintendo Wii. So where did they come from ”
Whatever the case may be, it’s good news for Sony overall, as they head into the holiday gaming season – which kicks off this week with Madden NFL 15 and Metro Redux – with a startling lead. Nintendo and Microsoft will have their weapons as well, but Sony has strong third-party support, as well as a line-up of downloadable and retail titles, including the upcoming DriveClub, which should release later this year.
Source: GamesIndustry International
