If the PS5 has maxed out already in year 3 then they need to focus on releasing big exclusives fast. FF16 and Spiderman 2 are a good start, but I suspect they will need a lot more of those system sellers next year if they have already hit their peak sales. especially since they are fast approaching 50 million sales and will have to reduce prices to go after the price conscious gamer soon.
I have to imagine that a $299 slim the month spiderman comes out is going to break records all over again. Thats that casual game for Sony that will bring the kids and the soccer moms. the hardcore have already bought in by now.
What are you talking about?
None of this is the current situation. You asked why Switch led in hardware units and several people brought up the Zelda OLED Switch model launching in April as a reason why. People getting ready for TotK in the following month is probably also a factor. It happens; anyone thinking Switch was never going to lead in units sold this year in scattershot/select months was being foolish.
But taking PS5 being #2 in units for April as a sign they've already peaked in sales or they need to dash to focusing on exclusives almost out of desperation is an equally foolish conclusion. Consoles that have 7-8 year lifecycles generally don't hit their peaks until around 2/3 of the way through the lifecycle. Clearly, we are not at that point yet for PS5 (or Xbox Series, for that matter). They (Sony) have had record-breaking sales after a price increase; there is little to no reason for a price cut until I'd say Fall 2024.
I also think you're too focused on Sony wanting to simply break records; a $299 Spiderman 2 PS5 Slim bundle would break records, sure, but just for a specific period of time. And, at the expense of losing money on the hardware and leaving a lot of revenue on the table. It's a bad strategy for the long-term health of the platform; a Spiderman 2 bundle with the current prices would be enough to have the same record-breaking hardware sales and without bleeding on hardware revenue at that.
Would not expect price cuts or any bundles like the one you mentioned until 2024/2025 (a price cut first, but probably by $50 not $100).