Meanwhile, the PlayStation 5 has finally surpassed the PlayStation 4 in one way, though it took half a console generation to do so.

Bringing PlayStation‘s first-party games to PC was bound to be successful, as many supported the idea of more people playing quality games wherever they want. However, Sony seems to have tried to force gamers to link their Steam accounts to PlayStation Network accounts, and has blocked the sale of their games—even those they only publish, like Stellar Blade—in over 100 countries where PSN is not available.

This began with Helldivers 2 and has been a topic of discussion for every PlayStation game ported to PC since then. Fortunately, PlayStation seems to be coming to its senses. God of War: Ragnarok, The Last of Us Part II Remastered, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, and Helldivers 2 have all had their region restrictions removed. Hopefully, this means there will be no more region-locked stories in the future. Days Gone Remastered was recently released without region locking, and now that the older games have also had the restrictions removed, perhaps this story is over.

It made no sense for PlayStation to bring its games to Steam with the intention of allowing gamers without PlayStations—or who simply don’t want to play on console—to play, only to then block those players in more than 100 regions around the world…

During its annual investor presentation, Sony confirmed that as of March 31, the number of monthly active PlayStation 5 users had finally surpassed that of PlayStation 4 users, meaning more PlayStation gamers are migrating to the current generation of hardware. A year ago, Sony confirmed the ratio was still 50/50 between the two consoles. While Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Hideaki Nishino was speaking, a slide was shown that illustrates the shift: PlayStation 5 players now make up the majority of PlayStation‘s 124 million monthly active users. This is up from the 123 million active users reported in 2023, which was already a record for Sony at the time.

“Our platform is stronger than ever. We continue to attract more players, and we now have over 124 million monthly active users. Through the wide range of content and services we provide, these players are more engaged than ever, resulting in record-high gameplay hours. Our platform is also more accessible than ever. The PlayStation 5 offers players the best way to experience our content, which is why our player base continues to grow. These players are highly engaged and spend more on content and services than prior generations did. However, the PlayStation 4 remains an important access point for existing players, and we are committed to serving them,” Nishino said.

Nishino’s comments also touched on other topics, which will be covered later today.

Source: wccftech, wccftech, bsky, inwebmeeting