The future of gaming isn’t a box. That’s something we say a lot here at Cloud Dosage. And, it has never been more clearly true than in this past month.
Many people would have you believe that PlayStation and its latest console have won the console war. This victory would appear to come at the expense of its main competitor in the space, Xbox, which has been struggling to sell as many consoles as it did in past generations.
One would assume that achieving domination over its competitor would be reflected in record-breaking sales for the PS5 console. The only problem with that narrative? The PS5 console isn’t even selling as many consoles as the PS4 at the same point in its life. And it’s not anywhere near PS2 sales (the highest-selling generation for the brand).
| PS4 Sales after 59 Months | 83.8 Million |
| PS5 Sales after 59 Months | 80.2 Million |
According to VGChartz stats – well worth a read – PS5 sales over 59 months on the market are down about 5% from where the PS4 was. Conveniently, both consoles were released during the same time of year, so their holiday sales periods line up.
Where is the Growth in Gaming?
It would be a bit daft to say all console sales are slumping. The Nintendo Switch 2 is currently selling like hotcakes – projected to hit near 20M units in its first year. But the Nintendo Switch 1 & 2 are also representative of another real growth trend in gaming: people are now gaming everywhere and anywhere they can, rather than remaining tethered to a particular box and screen.
PC Gaming Growth is Astounding
PC Gaming, with its ultimate level of flexibility, is booming! Steam has doubled its active player counts (shown below as monthly peaks) by 2x over the past 5 years and by 5x over the past 10 years!
And those stats are for just one PC gaming store/platform. The most popular multiplayer game in the world, Fortnite, is exclusively available on the Epic Games store. The Xbox store for PC (including PC Game Pass), GOG, Battle.net, Ubisoft/Ubisoft+, also add to the population of PC players, as do another handful of publisher-specific game launchers.
PC Gaming is Quickly Getting Console-like Convenience
And, with the release of devices like the Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and future set-top boxes from Steam and Microsoft, you can soon take your PC game collection with you wherever you go and play in the living room on your couch.
Mobile Gaming is Back to Growth As Well
After a bit of a post-pandemic slump, mobile gaming (iOS and Android) is back in growth mode – expected to grow at about 10% a year through the end of the decade. And chances are, your phone is now capable (or will be in the next couple of years) of running many AAA-quality games natively – at least those available on similarly powered handhelds like the Nintendo Switch 1/2.
With a mobile controller like the Backbone, your phone can become a gaming powerhouse! A PC in your pocket.
Cloud Gaming Turns Every Screen in Your Life Into a Gaming Device
Finally, our raison d’être – Cloud Gaming. Cloud Gaming turns every screen in your life into a AAA gaming machine. This includes your phone, tablet, laptop, Chromebook, Smart TV, and even car infotainment center. It is still early days for Cloud Gaming, and we’ve certainly had false starts (*cough* Stadia, *cough* Utomik). But, primary services like NVIDIA GeForce NOW, Boosteroid and Xbox Cloud Gaming are now hitting records of 100’s of millions of hours of gameplay streamed each quarter.
Sony and Microsoft are Both Adapting
Microsoft may have been the first mover, expanding its ecosystem to include PC game releases and cloud gaming access without the need to purchase a console, both Sony and Microsoft are now moving solidly towards a future untethered from a single plastic box.
In just the past month, Xbox released a co-branded handheld PC with Asus that features the Xbox PC store, the ability to play games from your console via “Play Anywhere” support. It’s also drastically upped the quality Xbox Cloud Gaming on devices of all sorts.
Sony has just enabled nearly 3,000 games from the PS5 library to be played via the cloud on the PS Portal handheld without the need to own a PS5 console at all!
And, we’ve now got evidence that Sony is copying Microsoft’s move into PC gaming with console/PC “Cross-Buy” support.
Some die-hard console warriors continue to fight the antiquated battle for their favorite plastic box. But, the truth is that the console wars are over, and it’s the traditional consoles that lost!
The future of gaming isn’t a box.
