Anecdotally, it always appeared as though the PlayStation 4 is doing well in Australia, but now the data is starting to back up the idea. Sony is truly starting to exert dominance when it comes to this generation of consoles.
According to NPD Group Australia — between the Wii U, Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 — the PlayStation 4 accounts for a whopping 59% of units sold.
And that dominance extends to all aspects of the games business. According to the numbers, when it comes to sales of consoles, games and peripherals in total, the PlayStation 4 also accounts for 59% of that market.
Considering there are three consoles in the current-gen marketplace, those are some pretty huge numbers. The Wii U’s continued struggle to get a hold in the Australian marketplace plays a factor, making this something of a two-horse race, but Microsoft has been a lot quieter in the wake of the NPD numbers — it’s a two horse race that Sony is clearly winning.
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46 responses to “The PlayStation 4 Is Dominant In Australia”
So what is the breakdown for the other 41%? 40% Xbox One and 1% Wii U?
I think the Wii U is higher because it’s the other console for a lot of people. Like many people have a PS4 & a Wii U or a XB1 & Wii U. And that’s excluding the people who can somehow justify all three.
And when I first saw 59% in what I believe is a two Horse Race I thought no big deal, without the Wii U numbers it’s hard to get a good idea of the actual race. But it could be as bad as 59% vs 20%. I will say it’s unsurprising that the machine that moved 59% of units sells 59% of the games and 59% of the accessories. That just makes sense.
The fact that the game and accessory sales are the same percentage as PS4 is why I think the Wii U percentage has to be quite low. Historically Wii U has a very high attach rate – around 20% higher than PS4 if you look at US numbers. Stuff like Mario Kart tends to have above 50% attach rate, i.e. they sell a copy to every second owner. That sort of attach rate plays out for just about every major Nintendo exclusive. If there’s a large percentage of Wii U hardware it should drive PS4’s percentage of the software pie down. Not so much with Xbox One, since the vast bulk of the games being sold in 2014 and 2015 for both systems were multi-platfom so they’re competing over the exact same pie and you’d expect the software sales percentage to track in line with the hardware.
Not entirely surprised though, most Ps4 owners I know only own the console so they can play two games a year and most of them are very “how ya goin mate Aussies”… otherwise my mates that play Xbox one buy a game or two a month and love digital purchases too
And nobody slam the Wii U, we use that more than the PS4 at least it has some wicked AAA titles like smash and splatoon
That’s entirely your personal exposure to PS4 users I think. I’ve been involved in everything from hardcore GTAV guilds, minecraft, MMO mobs to people that swear by only indie games on the PS4 (of which there’s heaps of now). There are all sorts of crowds from all walks of life.
I own all three systems and my PS4 library is the biggest by far.
But I also buy all my PS4 games digitally and I think NPDs don’t count digital sales at all.
I buy most games on PS4 and most my friends do the same. Specially third party games. The people I know would only buy a game on Xbox if it’s not available on PS4.
The ‘warz’ aspect of this stuff has been quietened in recent years, as it should be, but there will always be hints of it. Most any discussion about consoles still has the chance to devolve into pissing contests, and it’s not helped by arrogant business men in press releases. Mr Ephraim for instance used to be an absolute Eddie McGuire or Gerry Harvey type but he’s softened now 🙂
My memory’s foggy, but didn’t NPD AU stop publishing these for a while? Around the time of Wii/Wii U transition? Good to see the numbers public again in any case.
where are they public? Got a link?
Calling the WiiU ‘current gen’ seems a bit misleading, depending on your definition of ‘current’. Technologically it’s a lot closer in competition to the 360 and PS3. Just… many, many years late to the party. The fact that it’s ‘struggling’ instead of dead in a ditch being gnawed on by wild dogs is testament to its platform exclusives and fan-base.
Afterthought Edit: Seems to me like the figures reflect my own use of the consoles. 360 had an early lead over PS3, but by the end of that gen’s life, my PS3 had far surpassed my use of the 360. Getting a PS4 was just a continuation of that lead Sony had over Microsoft at that point in time.
Calling the Wii U “current gen” is in no way misleading. Yes, its hardware is comparable to that of the PS3 and 360. However it is Nintendo’s current console and the competitor to the Xbox One and PS4. As such, there is no possible way the Wii U could be called anything other than a “current gen” console.
If the discussion were to extend to hardware specifically, then I would be inclined to agree with you in that it makes classifying the Wii U more difficult. Thus, it could truthfully be said it utilises “last gen” hardware.
The waters will be made murkier when the NX is announced and released, at which point the discussion of current/next gen will be made valid.
Truthfully, since at least the Wii, Nintendo has never really given two shits as to what the other companies are doing and just do their own thing anyway. So trying to classify the Wii U into last/current/next gen is utterly pointless anyways if you ask me 😛
(I really hate this argument and wish it would go away haha)
Yeah, hence why I said, ‘depending on your definition of current’.
Just because Nintendo doesn’t give a shit about having current tech on their current offering (two completely different things) doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a huge impact on sales and user demographics, or on the types of titles available. And those are all really relevant to the discussion of what people are buying and why.
(For this reason, I prefer to subscribe to the hardware definition than the ‘what are they currently offering’ definition of current-gen. It’s last-gen technology relative to everything else on the market and knowing what’s relative to everything else is the entire point of making comparisons in the first place.)
EDIT: It occurs to me everything I’m saying comes down to the “depending on your definition”. I’ll stop beating the dead horse now haha.
I don’t disagree with the use of outdated hardware effecting sales and what not. And you’re right, that is more of a valid discussion as per the article. In that case then the idea of questioning the Wii U’s place in current/last/next gen is somewhat irrelevant. Merely mentioning that its use of outdated hardware in comparison to its competitors, and still managing to stay afloat (as you did) is enough.
I totally agree with more or less everything you’ve said (the sales of late PS3 attributing to PS4 success, the Wii U’s impressive struggle to stay relevant). And I can accept that you use that definition of “current gen”, I just disagree with it. I also disagree that calling Wii U “current” is misleading.
I’d suggest that there is a difference between current gen hardware and current gen console, and that you prefer the relevance of the hardware in use, whereas I prefer relevance of the console’s release period.
But hey, to each their own.
To go with semantics let’s say that instead of misleading, I’d say that it’s cumbersome, and perhaps even unfair. Because it means that to get the point across, you have to add a mouthful of a qualifier to Nintendo’s ‘current gen’ to get the point across that it maybe shouldn’t even be compared to the competition.
By using your logic you can come to the conclusion that:
The Gameboy used a CPU from the 70s.
That means the Gameboy is not in the same generation as the Gamegear.
Also what sets the standard for current gen hardware? Raw power?
The PS4 could have been outputting 1440p making a 1080p Xbone not current gen.
Just because a console is more powerful doesn’t make it the standard.
‘Generation’ as a term allows for some reasonable variation. That’s kind of the point of grouping things. Categories – maybe you’ve heard of them. They’re very useful when comparing things to other similar-but-not-identical things.
Relativity is important.
I bought a PS4 for bloodborne, lack of a stupid camera bundle (which Xbone changed at the last minute) and less power consumption. I miss Halo and the Xbox controller for it’s triggers but nothing else.
I always switch for one game. I Switched to xbox because Knights of the old republic was exclusive. Worth it.
really? Blood borne is what tipped you over haha wow
I know, how amusing.
Based on effective striking, grappling, aggression and octagon control
I love my PS4, it replaced my Xbox 360. MS massively dropped the ball on the release of the Xbone, even MS agrees with that, but let’s be clear – without a strong MS supporting games, then we wouldn’t have the strengths of the PlayStation 4. Competition drives down prices and innovation. The best thing to happen to PlayStation fans would be Microsoft announcing improvements to Xbox. Remember how we couldn’t watch 3D blu rays for the first year? Within hours of MS patching Xbox, Sony released theirs. A rising tide lifts all boats.
This so much. The reason Sony’s PS3 launch was so arrogant and tone-deaf (‘get a second job’ etc.) was because they’d basically run away with the market in the PS2 era. I suspect we saw a fair bit of that with the Xbox One launch and initial marketing too.
I’d agree with you but they have not a single exclusive worth buying the console for still…
Whereas Xbox one has soooo so many
I really think MS has really hurt the Xbox brand when the X1 launched and then they quickly back peddled on everything. Us gamers are not that forgiving.
Ps4 is my first sony console, I had the x1 not long after launch and I have to say I don’t see them as equals. There’s something delightful about the Ps4, whereas the Xbox never felt like home. Most X1 exclusives make keeping the old girl around worthwhile.
I’ve always put that feeling down to the X1 wanting so badly to be the centre of everything in my lounge room and the PS4 mainly concentrating on being where I play my games. X1 seems so unfocused and addled.
This could a good thing. Hopefully this pushes Microsoft to eventually pull out some big stuff to try and come back. Same with Nintendo. (please over power your new console Nintendo)
I know this is personally opinion, but I still think the xbox controller and xbox live are way way way ahead of the competition, And as far as i can tell exclusives dont really go sonys way either (yet)….Funny how Sony has pretty much done nothing new except make a console that works with not so many extras. Seems to be what people want … or its just cool to own a ps4 these days.
I agree with your first point – this could really spur MS to update Xbox but re: Sony ‘done nothing new’ – what about Vita remote play? Share Play? Teaming up with indies and allowing them to self-publish?. That’s not even mentioning VR. Xbox wouldn’t have Windows 10 streaming if not for how killer remote play was for people that had it (myself included).
I think it’s probably because nearly everything the xbone does, the PS4 does slightly better. Why would you buy the inferior console? Exclusives. And frankly, those exclusives have kind of failed to live up to the hype.
The launch exclusives were very uninspiring for both contenders (Dead Rising/Ryse vs Killzone/Knack, plus some indies?), but even a year later, about as good as it gets by way of exclusives is: Halo vs Bloodborne.
So few significant exclusives means so few reasons to sacrifice on all the points of difference where the PS4 wins ever-so-slightly but nearly universally.
In some niches the PS4 has an astonishingly large advantage in titles released. Have any JRPGs been released for XB1 at all?
About the only place the XB1 has an advantage is in first person shooters. You could possibly argue it has better driving games, but after all the patching it went through Drive Club is actually really good now.
I bought an XB1 about nine months ago and largely regret doing so. I just never use the thing.
Games with Gold seems to be hosting some pretty neat titles sometimes, I guess? :/
Forza 5, Forza 6, Forza Horizon 2 just some awesome exclusives that could easily replace drive club,
Would like to see Sony do something with Gran Turismo but then again they have definately screwed that franchise up for good
I’m aware of the Forza games, which is why I mentioned it as a possible edge for Microsoft. MS didn’t do themselves any favours with the DLC shenanighans for Forza 5, but that was fixed for 6 from what I’ve heard.
Drive Club is Sony’s only exclusive driving game as far as I know, but as mentioned it’s actually pretty good now – certainly able to compete with the Forza games. The problem is it’s just ONE driving game, where MS has at least three.
Sadly I’m terrible at almost all driving games (I ALWAYS take corners too fast and crash out) so I can’t easily compare them directly – although I do actually HAVE Forza Horizon 2, Forza 6 and Drive Club. I’ve heard that Project Cars (non-exclusive, of course) is also pretty good (and that the latest NFS game … isn’t.)
A better controller and a better online service is what the xbox does. It’s not as clear cut as you say BUT I think most people think like you. Well the sales tell us they do. I honestly think it’s all bad media and it’s no bodies fault but Microsofts
Thing is… both the controller and online experience are personal preference. I’ve used both and prefer Sony’s take. I would actually say that the Xbox doesn’t do those things better. But you can’t say the same about system specs. Specs and performance are not personal preference – they’re objective and measurable.
I’d say that’s why they are more of a common factor in the purchasing decision process.
What a shock…….not. I owned an Xbox and a 360. I never owned a PS2 or PS3. My hand was forced. The whole launch, always being online, not being able to share games, not being able to play The Last Of Us, Mass Effect losing exclusivity, a more heavy substantial controller for Playstation plus better graphics. Being forced to buy the Kinect? What did Microsoft expect? The Playstation is simply a superior machine. Destiny being better than Halo…No Man’s Sky….I could go all day guys.
Destiny is on both consoles?
I agree with you though, but I stuck it out and am glad I did to be honest 🙂 I think MS clawed back a lot of what they lost with all those crazy annoucements. Pretty much lost my entire friends list to PS4 with those bloody annoucments lol
I am aware Destiny is on both consoles. Its success has taken some of the heat off xbox exclusive Halo – that’s what I was getting it.
Hahahahahahahahahaha “Destiny being better than Halo” hahahahaha okay go back to eating your crayons now mate
Good thing you commented, you sure showed him
Yeah you really nailed me bro.
As I recall the last I heard overall (global) figures the PS4 was at around 35 million, the XB1 at around 20 million and the Wii U at around 12 million. It sounds like the Australian numbers more or less follow that trend, although I don’t know what the local balance is for XB1 vs. Wii U.
Nintendo beat Sega, that’s all I care about…
Xbox fan here 🙂 I think MS shot themselves in the foot when they first annouced the One and it being online only. I know nearly all of my core gaming friends all traded in their consoles for PS4’s right then and there, and even after Xbox took back the online only, they still never came back. I think the results would be a bit more level if xbox hadn’t screwed up so majorly with the announcment of the one, but I still prefer the console hands down.
Every gen it seems that ive switched teams, this time around it was ps4 where it was the 360 last time. My whole group of mates who play went xbone n sneered at my treachery. So now i am vindicated. Lonely, but vindicated. Ummm…. yay?
I own all three. Does that get me a cookie?
Then why is it that most of the boys on Grindr have an Xbox?