- The PS5 and Xbox Series S|X launched at the same time in 2020.
- According to Take-Two, the Xbox Series S|X sold around 22.2 million units so far.
- PS5 sold 22.7 million units in 2023 alone, overtaking the lifetime Xbox console figures.
Xbox came into this generation intending to regain market share three years ago after major missteps with the Xbox One early on. Much of this generation has been a course correction for Xbox, leading to more exclusives for the gaming giant than PS5.
However, PlayStation’s position in the market is too dominant. This is evident by the fact that PS5 sold more units this year alone than the Xbox Series S|X in their three years on the market.
Why it matters: Such failures could spell the demise of Microsoft’s hardware gaming business in the worst-case scenario.
Last week, Take-Two’s financial earnings report confirmed that 77 million current-generation consoles were sold by December 2023. With Sony confirming 50 million PS5 sales in 2023, many believed the Xbox Series S|X had sold around 27 million units.
However, Sony’s latest financial earnings report confirms this was much further than the truth. The gaming giant sold 8.2 million units in FY23 Q3, bringing the total number of consoles sold by 31st December up to 54.8 million units.
This means that the Xbox Series S|X accounted for just 22.2 million of Take-Two’s 77 million estimate. Adding PlayStation’s first three quarters of Fiscal Year 23 and FY22 Q4, Sony sold more PS5s in 2023 alone.
The total comes out to around 22.7 million PS5 consoles.
The image above shows PlayStation’s financial earnings report from earlier today. What makes this even more disappointing is the fact that Xbox sold less than two million units in the last six months of 2023.
Microsoft’s internal presentation confirmed 21 million sales for the Xbox Series S|X in June. By 31st December, these consoles could only reach 22.2 million sales, going by Take-Two’s estimate.
The Xbox Series S|X went through aggressive price cuts during the holidays. The Series S was often sold below $200, while Microsoft cut the Xbox Series X price to as low as $350.
Similar price cuts were made to the PS5, but Microsoft was more aggressive, making the outcome shocking, to say the least.
This large gap might explain Xbox’s intentions to go multiplatform with a few of its most successful games. Microsoft is set to host a business update tomorrow, where it will explain this strategy in further detail.
While Microsoft has not done much wrong this generation, its hardware business appears to be doing worse than the Xbox One, which was considered an all-time low for the gaming giant in 2013.
Still, rumors state that Xbox is not giving up just yet, with plans for an Xbox handheld next generation. Perhaps this could shake up the competition between Sony and Microsoft.
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[News Reporter]
Abiyan is on track to complete his Computer Science bachelor’s degree. His enthusiasm for writing and gaming motivates him to keep readers and gamers updated with the latest information from the industry. In his free time, Abiyan enjoys playing Dota 2 and Rocket League. Abiyan has also been cited in reputed websites such as Kitguru, Comicbook, GamingBible, Eurogamer and Gamingbolt.
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