Sony PlayStation shares user data on PS4 and PS5, free playing habits, multiplayer, DLC, physical versus digital and more

Sony Interactive Entertainment has had a panel at CEDEC (the Japanese GCD) where the Director of the Global Technology Department for Developers Kenjo Akiyama has left this data.

Which are the most common habits of PS4 and PS5 users? The data focuses on engagement with free games, online multiplayer, physical versus digital purchases, DLC, trophies, use of PS VR and more.

All this we have summarized thanks to Twinfinitesince they started with the ratio of “Active Devices” on PS4 and PS5. This means a console that has played at least one title in each month between April 2021 and June 2022.

It appears that adding both consoles is quite stable in all regions, but Akiyama mentioned that is rising steadily in favor of PS5 as players make the switch.

The next thing we see is the proportion of active devices in free games. A first graph focuses on PS4 consoles broken down by region, the second the same on PS5 and the third compare ps4 and ps5.

It seems that the PS4 users participate more in free games than PS5 users and Asian gamers are not as interested in this category of games as compared to other regions.

The next thing they focus on is online multiplayer, with playstation users in America and Europe participating more than those of Japan and Asia; that and that PS5 users are more active than PS4 users.

Next up is the average play time per user on both platforms combined. A first graph focuses on all games, with a mention that it is higher on PS5 than PS4 in all regions.

The second graph shown in this field focuses on free games, showing that Japanese players are the ones who spend the least time on this type of game.

The third graph focuses on the average play time of online multiplayer games, with the United States and Europe leading the way.

SIE decides to go after this to take a look at the breakdown of the average game time for each type of game, be it free, multiplayer and “others” in June 2022.

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In this field, Japan is where you have the highest value for free games, while Asia has the highest value for “others” games.

Going into details of the ratio of digital purchases compared to those of the physical format, it seems that PS5 and PS4 are added together for this metric.

Japanese gamers seem to buy more physically, while in North America they are at the back. In digital they are all even, but North America comes first with Europe narrowly behind.

The following set of charts focuses on digital, DLC, and in-game purchases broken down by region and platform.

• The first shows the PlayStation Store purchasesincluding both full games and additional content.
• The second shows the average amount spent per device active, including both full games and additional content.
• The third graph shows the proportion of users who buy DLC and other content (excluding full games).
• The fourth chart shows the expenses for DLC purchases and other content.
• The fifth focuses on spending per active device on DLC and other content.
• The sixth focuses on the total amount of purchases of DLC and other content on PlayStation Store.
• The seventh shows the percentage of users who spend money on F2P games.

The next graphic showing from Sony PlayStation shows the use of PlayStation VR on PS5a device that is increasing its use and that little by little switch from ps4 to ps5.

Regarding trophies, the first table breaks down the average rate of trophies per game broken down by region and the percentage of obtaining each trophy.

The second table shows the classification of each region, each row represents one of the games with the most players on PlayStation. This is the full presentation, which can be seen on YouTube without any problem.

Japanese players tend to stick with a game for a long time and therefore get more trophies. Things change in the third where only the platinum trophieswith Asia and Europe leading the regions.

In another slide you can see the average number of games per user played in the last year, with PS5 and PS4 together. The United States is in the lead with 10.7 games and Japan is trailing with 5.9.

The second is the average hours spent per game broken down by region. Japanese gamers tend to stick with the same game much longer than other users.

The other slide shows the average play time in the last 6 months for PS4 and PS5, where it is seen that PS5 players also tend to play longer.

Finally you see the number of PS5 DualShock 4 and DualSense controllers paired on average with each console. The vast majority of users on consoles pair 2 controllers, followed by one.

On August 25, 2022, Sony announced that PlayStation 5 is going up in price in several marketsincluding the European of course.

This means that from now on, both the model with a disc player and the digital one will cost fifty euros more (549.99 and 449.99 euros, respectively).