72% of all US next-gen pre-orders for the PlayStation 5

A recent study from VGM, a market research company, has revealed that most of the gamers in the US who have pre-ordered a net-gen console have for a Playstation 5 standard edition. This is the version of the console that has a disc drive.

This study was conducted between September 23, 2020, to September 25, 2020. It surveyed a sample of 511 respondents in the US, which were used to represent the rest of the US gaming population.

Of these respondents, 15 percent said that they were able to pre-order a next-gen console. Within that group the percentage of people who pre-ordered a PlayStation 5 was 72 for the disc edition, and 10 percent for the digital edition. 30 percent of these gamers pre-ordered an Xbox Series X, and 8 percent pre-ordered an Xbox Series S.

29 percent of the respondents said that they made an attempt to pre-order a next-gen console, but were unable to do so. 58 percent of this group were trying to pre-order a PlayStation 5 standard edition, 40 percent were after an Xbox Series X, 21 percent wanted a PlayStation 5 digital edition, and 11 percent wanted an Xbox Series S.

The sample of respondents was also divided into three distinct categories. These are; casual gamers, midcore, and hardcore. In the hardcore segment, 28 percent were able to successfully pre-order a next-gen console, and 42 percent said they were unable to secure a pre-order.

Of those who have pre-ordered a next-gen console, or plan to purchase one before the end of 2020, 52 percent said that Spider-Man: Miles Morales is the game that convinced them to do so. 42 percent said the same of God of WAr: Ragnarok, and 32 percent said it was Final Fantasy XVI that gave them the push.

When it comes to the Xbox Series X and S, 45 percent of the pre-orders were swayed by Halo Infinite, a game that won’t launch until 2021. This was followed by Fable at 26 percent, and 24 percent with Forza Motorsport 8.

When it comes to non-exclusive games, 45 percent of respondents said that it’s Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War that made them pre-order a next-gen console. 31 percent said that the game they’re buying the console for is Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. The latest Assassin’s Creed game will be a day one release for the Xbox Series X, making it a very attractive option for Microsoft’s offering.

Overall, 45 percent of the respondents said that they went for a PlayStation 5 because of its exclusives. With the Xbox Series X, it’s the Game Pass subscription opportunity that has swayed 42 percent of respondents. Interestingly 63 percent of the respondents had no idea that Microsoft had recently purchased Bethesda’s parent company.