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According to recently revealed sales data from publisher Take-Two, it looks like Sony's PS5 has outsold Microsoft's Xbox Series X|S by a factor of roughly 2:1. Microsoft stopped trumpeting console sales a while back, so getting to a concrete number requires taking a slightly circuitous route.
As reported by GameSpot, according to a slide listed in Take-Two's latest earnings report, there are "77 million Gen 9 consoles outstanding worldwide, as of 31st December 2023." Math never was our strong suit, but thankfully, Sony made things relatively straightforward for us by announcing more than 50 million PS5s have been sold as of December 2023, meaning the remaining number must belong to Xbox. That puts the combined sales of both Xbox Series X|S at about 27 million, depending on how December shook out.
Things get even more grim when you consider that Sony no longer sells PS5 consoles at a loss, whereas at least as recently as 2022, Microsoft was losing nearly $200 on every Xbox sold, with the idea being that that money would be made back on games and accessories. We all wait with bated breath to hear from the Xbox leadership team this week as to what fate awaits the platform, although it's unlikely the company will stop manufacturing consoles anytime soon.
Are you surprised to learn that PlayStation is so far out in front, or is that about what you were expecting? Prepare a careful tally in the comments section below.
[source ir.take2games.com, via gamespot.com]
Comments 54
Pretends to be shocked
Isn't it doing worse then what the X1 was doing in the same time span? No wonder MS are going to port games over to PS5 and Switch.
Honestly, kinda wish that Xbox consoles would be doing better so Microsoft didn't feel the need to buy every other company when they already have plenty of dormant franchises that could be revived and be turned into incentives to buying an Xbox instead of just the usual Halo, Gears of War, Forza, and they already had plenty of talented studios prior to even the Bethesda buyout, and they could also work with smaller third-party developers.
But nah, let's buy the Candy Crush company.
The fact that Microsoft are losing $200 on every Series X is bad enough, but the fact that they need to recoup money back on each customer through game sales is even worse, since the Gamepass model is what most people champion on the fact that they donāt need to buy games. So that $200 is starting to look a lot worse. No wonder Microsoft is potentially releasing games on PS5! We buy our games over here! š
PS5 sold 50m by the week ending 9th of December. By the 31st of December it would have sold easily 2m+ more, probably closer to 3M(these are the busiest weeks of the year) The VGchartz estimate has PS5 at over 53m by end of December for what thatās worth.
Therefore the breakdown would be more like
PS5 - 52-53m
Series X/S - 24-25m
@DennisReynolds It is but the bigger problem for them is that in the last year itās dropped off massively. This year could be even worse.
Not surprised in the least. My nephew has the xbox series x thingy (the black tower) and its a good machine but it's lacking that something..games..oh and the speedy loading,haptic,3d sound etc..but he's happy with it and he just recently bought a ps5 too. I'll stick with my ps5 seeing as it's looking like we'll be getting the games that are really only worth having an xbox for anyway.
I'm perfectly happy with my series x as well as my ps5. Personally I think most companies would be happy to have half the install base as the ps5. At this point microsoft is perfectly happy as long as you subscribe to their services on any device. Hopefully things get a bit better the console market is always better when there is competition.
In other news, the Kansas City Chiefs just won the Super Bowl again.
@jamison1993 Most companies, maybe. But definitely not a company that's into their 4th generation of home consoles and has invested such obscene amounts of money in their platform.
I know Game Pass is their main strategy these days, but until cloud gaming truly takes off, there's no better way to sell those subs than to get Xbox consoles into people's homes first. Considering Game Pass growth has reportedly stalled as well, it's safe to assume MS isn't happy with the way this gen is going at all.
The Xbox has barely any compelling exclusives. And the PS5 is beating it on compelling exclusives 2 to 1.
Still not great, is it?
2:1 eh?
And there was me thinking that most people on planet earth had no money sense.
PS Latest state of play - 2.7 million views
MS Latest developer direct - 1.1 million views
( platforms YouTube channels )
Itās a small pool compared to both the platforms player bases but it tells the same story, more than 2 to 1.
But I though Xbox was going to sell better because it had more teraflops?
@Artois2 it does. But also, a Ferrari wonāt go anywhere without fuel to drive it.
Honest question but if a game is available via Xbox (or is it more specifically GamePass?? dunno) isnāt it already then available on (an appropriately specced) Windows PC? Wouldnāt then game sales need to be collated for both ādevicesā?
(asking as a non-Xbox, non-PC person)
By classic metrics, this does show outstripped competition. However as noted, it does depend on the purchasing power of the two groups. The real data, that we don't have, is the combined revenue from Gamepass (for both console and PC) plus sales on those platforms compared for like for like. My guess is still that PS5 has both the bigger install base AND revenue stream across console and PC even with Gamepass but those are the real figures.
Am I the only one who doesn't think that's that badš I thought it was higher tbh š
@XanderTigerclaw itās a fair question. Console sales arenāt AS important as they used to be for Microsoft. And crucially they are only one metric of success.
But that doesnāt mean they arenāt important. If you donāt have enough console sales then less third parties will make ports of their games for your console. Weāve already heard publishers like Limited Run games discuss this and as a result PlayStation has a wider selection of games than Xbox.
Additionally there is the perception of value, people on the fence often want to be on the āwinning sideā and what typically happens is gamers flock to the more popular, better selling, console and this gap gets wider over time. Like in the XBO v PS4 gen.
Do not underestimate the power of Playstation. š
@XanderTigerclaw not all Xbox games are console and not all are PC, some are both.. some are either. Xbox wonāt die from opening up and spreading love, thatās fanboy nonsense. I mostly play Ps5, in large part due to the facts that Iām old and my friends are old (30+).. they only got Ps5. If theyāre offline Iād rather play on my Xbox or PC. I hate that the story keeps repeating that Ps5 is somehow superior, SIE needs to step it up and catch up.. Iād rather see performance and features match. They donāt. But people bought in and feel content
@themightyant @flawse thanks both for enlightening me! šŗšš¼
All I know is, if thereās ever a āThe Evil Within 3ā, I want it on PlayStation. Itās probably the only Bethesda (now Microsoft) series Iād want to bring back over the fence šš¹
For Microsoft to have the "amazing" gamepass service and have acquired two huge publishers yet to sell worse than the "colossal failure" Xbox one, that's not a good look at all.
PS5 has been the "it" console since its launch - though three and a half years later, still not entirely sure why? Probably not a popular view, but there you are.
It's still standing on the PS4's shoulders. True a few next-gen titles have started to emerge which is good but it's hardly awash with them, even now. SIE need to get their fingers out and make it great, but with M$ in the doldrums and considering porting games across, maybe M$ titles will be an injection of excitement in the PS5.
However, given the backwards compatibility with the PS4, it just gives the PS5 a colossal head start on the XBox as no-one in their right mind would give up their PS4 discs/digital downloads.. I don't think the Series S is exactly helping M$'s case.
Let hope Nintendo come out with a banger of a console because Sony seriously need some competition to galvanise them into action. Complacent Sony is a bad Sony. Bring on Jim Ryan's replacement...
PlayStation the g.o.a.t. š š.no wonder why x box is trying to put theyre games on ps5 instant classic console.nas made you look huh x box.haha.word up son
I mean, is it that surprising?
Xbox sales has been dropping since the half of 7th gen, people just tend to forget because the 360 was "good".
I honestly thought it was way worse, like 1:3. Must be still going decently in the US.
@Nei
If you look at regional monthly sales you get something between 1:2 to 1:20
Japan estimates for January was something like that, both PS5 and Switch outsold Xbox by 1:20.
This is actually suprisingly good considering Xbox really only competes in the Americas and all their games launch day one on PC. Kinda thought it would be way worse.
Only 2:1? Xbox Series S saved Microsoft this generation. Considering the overwhelming majority of Xbox consoles sold are Series S, just imagine the spread between Series X and PS5. In any case, considering how much better PS5 Microsoft did a good job.
M$ needs to buy EA, Ubisoft, Take 2, Take 3, Sqaure Soft, From Soft, EA, Nintendo to address this issue. POWER YOUR BUY! POWER YOUR BUY!!!
Microsoft needs to leave the console hardware market. Better let Sony own the market, no one is going to fill Xboxās gap if they leave anyway, so Sony can roam freely.
@Relygon
While I don't want Xbox to leave the console market because competition is good for consumers, I also know Microsoft has deviated into unhealthy competition trying to buy their way to the top. If they remain in the console market, they'll use their dwindling console sales (mostly due to self-sabotage) to justify to regulators why they should be allowed to keep buying publishers. If they leave the console market entirely, which I doubt they'll do, they'll then use that as justification to regulators why they should be allowed to keep buying publishers. Consumers lose in both cases.
@TheCollector316 Thereās barely any competition to speak of anyway, Xbox losing on all fronts. Regulators can be bribed by Microsoft regardless.
@Relygon
That is true. Perhaps Microsoft will "luck out" and get the Microsoft judge again.
Doesn't matter to me how many, who sold what. It's all about the games for me. But I don't really care about who sold the most games either, coz it's usually crap games like cod or fifa. People have bad taste and like crappy games. And most people wait for people to tell them it's a good game before they buy, because they can't decide for themselves.
At this point, I think the only reason you could really use to justify the purchase of an Xbox is their emulation capabilities and ability to play games natively from the a couple generations ago. I really want to jump back into GTA 4 and there isn't a good way to do it on PS5.
@Ainu20 Gamepass isn't just the cloud and Xbox these days It also on pc. They also sell their games on nintendo, steam, and playstation now. They aren't just dependent on Xbox anymore.
this is no shock. Xbox is so stagnant. Never feel the need to boot up my xbox
@XanderTigerclaw fingers crossed then!
TL;DR - the console UI, crossplatform games experience, controller and several other features are better to me on Series X not PS5.
.
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True, PS5 has the better exclusives - it would be more even if big tentpole releases like Starfield and Redfall hadn't completely bombed for Microsoft - but it's a slender thing because there still aren't enough "next gen only" killer app system sellers that are "only on PlayStation" as their marketing goes.
I don't think Sony have the better platform in terms of how the console looks and performs. My PS5 Slim crashes in Rest Mode when I have Red Dead Redemption II running and it's a bit more susceptible to doing that in general with PS4 games. It was a launch bug that's supposedly fixed but it's still there. The Settings menu and UI navigation in general is unintuitive and I still dislike that they flipped how the PS button on the controller works. I can back up/restore PS4 saves but I can't do PS5 saves without doing a full console storage backup or subscribing to PS Plus, a service I don't want. Sony railroading people into PS Plus this way is a joke. Still no themes and folders on the home screen, minor gripe but relevant. Biggest compliments are that the design, weird/stupid shape that it is allows you to remove/clean the fan easily plus the M.2 SSD can be moved between consoles, no lockout.
A lot of previous gen crossplatform titles run better on Series X. Take underrated banger Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition - it runs at a smooth, sharp looking 60FPS compared to the lower resolution 30FPS PS4 version on PS5. Red Dead Redemption II is a lot sharper presentation wise with the One X version on Series X. Older titles can have FPS Boost/Auto HDR without needing a recompile of the game which is the limiting factor for PS4 games on PS5. Backwards compatibility on Series X reaches all the way to the OG Xbox. If you pay a small amount to enable Dev Mode you can emulate Wii, GameCube, PS2 etc, using that Series X power; weird position where an Xbox runs more PS2 games than a PS5.
Series X has a better UI (with themes and folder-like grouping, yep). If you have an Elite Series 2 controller you not only have something more comfortable with better battery life than Sony's ripoff the Edge (also a member of U2), but if you set up a paddle as a SHIFT key you can assign shortcuts to the controller. On mine if I press SHIFT&A it opens RDR2, SHIFT&Y opens YouTube etc. Quick Resume allows you to move between about 5-8 different games, so with the Elite controller you're switching between multiple games with only two button presses: 10 seconds later you're back where you left off, it's pretty seamless. Cloud saving is free and works as far back as the Xbox 360 as per my testing - I have saves from literally 2013 that still work whereas Sony allow you free storage for video/image captures of games without PS Plus but not game saves...
I probably sound like an Xbox fanboy, but I'm not. The launch CECHA PS3 is my favourite console of all time which still gets used semi-regularly, however when it comes to crossplatform current and older gen games, I own enough across the Xbox & PS that the experience is basically always better on the former. Yes the PS5 is getting exclusives the Series X doesn't plus will play PS4 generation exclusives, but for me that's pretty much the only value.
@Northern_munkey Let me debunk an inaccuracy there.
"My nephew has the xbox series x thingy (the black tower) and its a good machine but it's lacking that something..games..oh and the speedy loading"
No it's not missing the speedy loading on Series X|S. With Quick Resume you can move between about 5-8 suspended games in 10 seconds or less, no opening the game from scratch, no loading a save - it's literally where you left it. And if you have an Elite Series 2 you can do it with 2 button presses on the controller itself. Mine can currently move between The Witcher 3: Complete Edition, Red Dead Redemption II, GTA V, Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition and a few others pretty seamlessly. I wish the PS5 could do that.
@zekepliskin whatever mate. I don't use the thing enough to know all its workings and I'm just basing my opinion from what I have garnered having actual hands on with the console rather than just forming an opinion without having actually used it. My nephew prefers it over his ps5 and I much prefer my ps5 and incidentaly you can switch between ps5 games on the fly a lot quicker. Still needs the games my friends š
@Northern_munkey It's funny, because you said you "don't use the thing enough to know all its workings" and then wrongly said "incidentaly you can switch between ps5 games on the fly a lot quicker" again which I've told you isn't true.
It takes longer to back out of a loaded game to the PS5 home screen, choose another, wait for that to load, choose a save, load that then go into another game (usually better part of a minute) than using Quick Resume on Series X which with two button presses on the Elite controller and 5-10 seconds you're where you left off. It's a fact not a "whatever mate", I have both PS5/Series X so believe me I know. If you don't know that's fine, but stating something wrong as fact when someone's told you different is foolish.
"Still needs the games my friends š" Yep they both do - the PS5 is looking a little light on exclusives this year, sadly.
@zekepliskin I did say based on my hands on experience. There's ways of correcting me without attempting to go all in. I wasn't having a go at you or being confrontational. I appreciate the information and I'll check these features out the next time I am with my nephew.
If a company is making more money does it matter if the aint selling as many plastic boxes?
@UltimateOtaku91 but they are making more money
@MrGawain that's subjective
@Northern_munkey rubbish games are just as fast as PlayStation and Xbox has quick resume
@Toot1st can you please read the posts above where I said I acknowledged I needed to check it out next time I can (admitting I was mistaken) so I don't know why you have to chip in Doris but thanks anyway š
I dont like games as a service it's like having to finish games as fast as you can. I don't need all the games if I have to rush them.
@Flaming_Kaiser I remember when I first signed on to GamePass and how I was like a kid in a candy storeā¦..then I realized that a lot of these games get taken off the serviceā¦.i still like it, but there is definitely value in actually owning the game to be able to play at your own paceā¦.
@rockodoodle Gamepass is amazing early doors. I had about 60 games I genuinely wanted to play and looked forward to the upcoming inclusions. The issue is, once you have caught up, the better games from the last couple of years are not on the service. Street fighter 6, Tekken 8, Elden Ring, Baldurs Gate, FF16 etc.
So you reach a point you are playing mediocre games and stop having fun. Like cycling through TV channels on a grim Tuesday evening. You then have to pony up for the games you want which ruins the point of gamepass.
I have an xbox and am actually hoping gamepass fails. It just encourages crap in game storefronts and incomplete games.
Sounds crazy, but I agree. would rather pay Ā£60-Ā£70 for each game I really want and get my moneys worth.
@rockodoodle For the same reason I won't bother with higher tiers of the Sony version of Gamepass i don't have a lot of time and I just want to play in my own pace and when i feel like it.
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