The Burrow
Apr 20, 2021
From old-school gamers playing on retro consoles to those who seek the latest and greatest gaming tech, it’s important that you consider your electronic devices and other valuables when it comes to home and contents insurance.
Not only can it provide cover for both your retro and modern gaming systems, but it can also extend to cover other valuable gaming accessories such as your collection of digitally stored game copies, Virtual Reality headsets, controllers and steering wheels, depending on your level of cover.
To get a better understanding of how your policy might cover you, check the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) for any limits, exclusions and restrictions that could apply in the event you need to make a claim.
As experts in insurance, we decided to investigate just how gamers are using their consoles to play and interact online.
Since the 70s, gamers have been able to bring the fun of the arcade home. Over the years, many different video game consoles have been released by various brands, each vying to be a bigger success than the last.
Some are remembered fondly, but were eventually replaced by new and improved technology, while other gaming systems didn’t survive their respective generation’s console wars and faded into obscurity.
With the advent of the internet, a new way to play soon made its way to gaming consoles – online multiplayer.
These days almost every aspect of a video game involves an internet connection, from digital downloads and cloud-based data storage to gaming with others in real-time across the world.
Currently, the big players in the console wars are Sony’s PlayStation, the Nintendo consoles and Microsoft’s Xbox. With the recent release of the new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, this generation’s console wars show no sign of slowing down.1,2
We take a look at the popularity of these big three gaming console brands in recent years across specific countries that had some of the highest console sales, with the data showing how many gamers used their consoles to access the internet.
Source: Console Operating System Market Share Worldwide. StatCounter, GlobalStats. July 2020.
Disclaimer: Older generation game consoles can’t access the internet, and thus aren’t represented in the data. However, all modern and current generation platforms can access the internet (and often need to for multiplayer modes, plus game and update downloads), so the above table is a handy indicator of the current state of the console wars.
As shown by the data, PlayStation consoles are highly popular around the world in comparison to Xbox and Nintendo consoles. As of July 2020, PlayStation accounted for 63.39% of the console operating system market’s share of online activity. Xbox came in second for popularity with 36.6% of console gamers on Earth using the system.
Only in the USA and Mexico is the Xbox platform more popular for internet connectivity than PlayStation.
To be fair to Xbox fans, the first PlayStation was released in 1994, while the first Xbox only came out in 2001. By that time, the PlayStation 2 (or PS2 for short) was already popular among gamers, having been released a year earlier in 2000. The PS2 currently holds the sales record with almost 158 million units sold.3
The Uncharted franchise of videogames, one of PlayStation’s best-selling exclusive titles, is coming to the silver screen. Slated for release in 2021, the movie will star Tom Holland as protagonist Nathan Drake.4
Some other video game franchises that got a movie (whether or not it was any good) include:
• Assassin’s Creed,
• Mortal Kombat,
• Super Mario Bros.,
• Lara Croft,
• Resident Evil,
• Street Fighter,
• Doom, and
• Sonic the Hedgehog.
Furthermore, the PlayStation 4 is renowned for having access to a greater range of highly rated exclusive titles such as God of War, The Last of Us, the Uncharted series, Spider-Man, and the remastered Shadow of the Colossus.
In comparison, there are fewer exclusive Xbox One titles which were as commercially successful,5,6 though this does include pop culture behemoths like the Halo, Forza and Gears of War franchises. While the PlayStation platform may have more feathers in its cap, Xbox consoles have been known for having better backwards compatibility – meaning older games still work on newer tech (saving gamers the headache of having to buy a game twice).7 Though this is not a unique feature to the Xbox platform, it was renowned for it when the Xbox One replaced the Xbox 360.
Nintendo consoles have been around longer than both Xbox and PlayStation, with their first gaming console, the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), coming out in 1983.
Their current console, the Nintendo Switch, is proving popular with gamers around the world. From release in 2017 to June 2020 over 60 million Switch consoles were sold.8 However, it currently has a smaller library of online multiplayer games compared to the PlayStation and Xbox. This means gamers don’t need to use the internet as much, and this is reflected in the data above.
In 1990 Nintendo released a peripheral for the NES, the Power Glove – while a novel concept it didn’t sell well due to a lack of games that supported its functionality.
Furthermore, while the original Nintendo Wii was a smash hit with gamers when it came out in 2006, Nintendo’s follow-up console the Wii U was a commercial failure compared to the original. In an investor FAQ session at Nintendo’s 76th AGM, former president Tatsumi Kimishima admitted the company expected to sell close to 100 million units,9 comparable to the success of the first Nintendo Wii. However, the company only sold just over 13 million.10
Internet activity usage is one thing, but exclusive title sales can help provide another viewpoint to see which consoles are more popular in the global console wars.
Year: 2014
Sales: 20 million+ (as of October 2019)11
Year: 2020
Sales: 4 million+ (as of June 2020)12
Year: 2016
Sales: 16 million+ (as of October 2019)13
Year: 2018
Sales: 13.2 million+ (as of August 2019)14
Year: 2018
Sales: 10 million+ (as of May 2019)15
Year: 2015
Sales: 6.6 million+ (as of May 2015)16
Year: 2012
Sales: 5 million+ (as of May 2012)17
Year: 2018
Sales: 15 million+* (as of June 2012)18
Year: 2018
Sales: 15 million+ (as of May 2020)19
Year: 2011
Sales: 6 million+* (as of June 2012)20
Year: 2017
Sales: 26.74 million (as of June 2020)
Year: 2020
Sales: 22.4 million (as of June 2020)
Year: 2018
Sales: 19.99 million (as of June 2020)
Year: 2017
Sales: 18.60 million (as of June 2020)
Year: 2017
Sales: 18.06 million (as of June 2020)21
Disclaimer: This table includes games released before and after the three-year window our internet activity chart explores above, and these numbers are subject to change. Some exclusive titles became available on PC or other consoles at a later date.
* Player count, not sales figures.
As the sales figures go for console exclusives, Nintendo numbers take the cake, placing them above Xbox and most PlayStation titles. However, it’s hard to get clear stats on Xbox games, as the data above was taken shortly after the titles were released. Also, many of these games are available to play through Microsoft’s highly regarded Game Pass subscription service – (where games don’t have to be purchased individually), so current numbers could even be higher. Besides Game Pass being known for offering good value for money, Microsoft has also made several exclusive Xbox titles available to PC gamers at release.
A TV commercial for the release of the Xbox 360 in 2005, which depicted a busy train station turning into a make-believe shoot-out with finger guns, never made it to mainstream television, but was aired at an Xbox launch event.
Still, with a whole new console generation on its way, there’s plenty for gamers of all stripes to enjoy, no matter the platform.
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