China has proven itself to be a gold mine for PlayStation 5 in terms of demand and sale, and is expected to match the west in the coming years.
Speaking with Games Industry in a recent interview, Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan hailed China for a successful PS5 launch by showcasing the “same sort of energy” as in the west.
China lifted its decade-long ban on the manufacturing and sale of game consoles just a few years back. The Chinese market reportedly hosts more than a billion gamers and all of them are now openly accessible to not only Sony but also Microsoft and Nintendo, among others.
That being said, China is traditionally a mobile market which mostly likes to delve in free-to-play microtransactions-heavy mobile games. Sony hence made sure to not enter the Chinese market blindly, and was reported to organize a number of promotional events in the country before launching PS5.
“The one launch that I would call out is China,” said Ryan. “The console gaming model is not well established there, it’s all free-to-play and mobile, but we had a hunch that the time might be right to change that and rolled a few dice.
“We made a lot of noise at launch, allocated a good amount of stock, and it blew through very, very quickly. Same sort of energy that we see in the West. It’s early days yet but we’re encouraged by that.”
Sony will now be committing to doubling its efforts to further expand in China. The writing on the wall clearly dictates that Sony, much like other companies, expects China to become a major console market to drive up sales in the future.
Elsewhere, Ryan confirmed that demand for PlayStation 5 remains “extremely strong everywhere.” PS5 has now sold more than 10 million units worldwide and that too despite facing supply shortages. Even more impressive is that the milestone was achieved around a month earlier than PS4, making PS5 the fastest-selling PlayStation console in history.
Ryan hopes that the supply situation will improve a little in time for the 2021 holiday season.
