PS5's Market Share Is Expanding Significantly in Xbox's Backyard

The creme rises to the top ...

Well that would be yet more proof for ‘jimryanout!’ surely 🥸

This is really interesting - online I seem to have noticed a growing narrative that Microsoft are nailing it a lot more than Sony this generation (not one I agree with, but it's definitely there). However, it seems like in terms of general popularity (the main metric that will matter in the eyes of Sony) playstation has never been more desirable. I wonder what it is that's grabbing more and more people to the PS5? It was easy to point to last generation, with the Xbox One's terrible launch, and once PS4 got a foothold in the market it was easy to convince friends etc. to jump on too. But this generation, I'm struggling to pinpoint exactly why Sony is still doing so much better than Microsoft

@colonelkilgore Haha! The new profile pic is great!

I will say that 2023 will probably be strong for both companies. I think I saw a couple of Xbox’s big exclusives are also set to arrive finally. We’ll see. I also am curious about some of the new games coming to both consoles but going to GamePass day 1 and not PS+, like Wo Long, Lies of P, and Atomic Heart. I wonder if 3rd party GP support pulls people into the Xbox ecosystem

@BranJ0 you're hearing that narrative from game pass supporters. That's really it. Ms buys company, game is now "free" on game pass. That's all they are referring to. Ms has done nothing I can think of outside of give xbox gamers games that they were already going to get anyways.

@BranJ0 There are always certain people that think that of MS each gen despite them always being the worst selling console manufacturer of each and every gen they're in. It's bizarre, to be honest.

But Twitter told me that Microsoft is a hero and Game Pass will rule over all!
Don't fix what ain't broke. Massive AAA - single player - story driven exclusives lead the way for Sony, while Microsoft has given up on making "bangers" and only cares about GP & "live services". It's that simple.
GAMES are all that matter. Keep making ones like Ragnarok, Rift Apart, etc and the arrow will only be pointing UP.

This may sound fanboyish...but...Microsoft. Doesn't. Care.

It's even said it isn't concerned with "beating" Sony in hardware sales. Sure, it would be nice, but Microsoft just doesn't want a flop.

Microsoft is doing its own thing.

Series consoles are now more in line with say...Surface products: They are there. They are a guarantee into Microsoft's ecosystem. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Yes, Microsoft has a games division. It's called Xbox. It extends well beyond the plastic box.

So, while, yes, it's great for Sony's bottom line to achieve this. Microsoft. Doesn't. Care.

Sony kind of needs PlayStation to succeed (it's a major player in Sony's profit margins). Microsoft just likes the sales and subscriptions. It's not a 2 trillion dollar company thanks to Xbox.

The companies are playing two very different games at this point.

I buy Sony for its exclusive content. I buy Nintendo for its exclusive content.

I buy Xbox for the overall ecosystem and services provided.

@colonelkilgore I dislike Jim, but he plays a good villain in my playful view of the gaming industry.

This doesn't really matter since Microsoft had switched gears and are targeting a different market. GamePass allows them to go after the casual gamer unrestricted by a gaming console. If they decided to make it first party exclusive, and stopped making consoles, I could see game pass on PlayStation consoles (hypothetically).

@BranJ0 It's not rocket science bruh the games are all that matters and xbox barely makes games let's just be real and even when they do sonys games are still better.

The only dark lining to these silver clouds is that it strengthens Microsoft’s case that they can’t compete without reducing consumer access to one of the world’s top selling game franchises.

Hmm. When put that way, it doesn’t really sound like a move that’s pro-competition. Regulate away!

@Th3solution yeah it made me chuckle when I saw it 🤣.

You’re right though, if any year was ever gonna be strong for Xbox it’s 2023.

This is what having absolutely no games in a year will do to your platform, Game Pass can be great but this shows it’s not enough to drive sales to their consoles, let’s see how this year turns out as Xbox seems to have more first-party games than PlayStation on paper.

Playstation are showing that you can make money by shifting plastic boxes and selling games. Guess that must be because they are selling something people are willing to pay for.

That's not to say that the Xbox camp doesn't have something to offer, more that the jury is still out on whether the games they are able to offer are of a sufficient quality compared to Sony first party due to them having to fit in to the game pass model. It seems to me that the MS subscription is more about getting people excited about getting games for "free" rather than how good those games are or if they even turn up.

In the US, it’s all about supply, both consoles still sell ridiculously fast, even the Series S sells relatively well, although it might take a few days to sell out of stock after resupply.

Hell, the statement quoted in the article itself states it’s all about supply in the US.

What is interesting, if anything, is that last summer Series X was way more available than PS5s, but that has shifted. MS seems to be having a hard time supplying Series X, this last Christmas it was easier to bump into a PS5 than a Series X, and Microsoft heavily relied on Series S to sell units.

Question is: why? Is it a poor cost saving decision on Microsoft’s part? Did Sony use the price increase on PS5 to flip the tables on MS outbidding for supply? Or did MS simply predict they would not be able to move the Series X in higher numbers without first party Triple A games, so held back on manufacturing?

Inb4 someone tries to downplay again.

surprised that they're so willing to brag about this, with the whole Activision Blizzard thing going on

@Tharsman Series S has been carrying Series sales for a while now.

I don't think I have really ever seen a Series X-focused Ad online, but I have sure as heck seen Series S-focused Ads.

Also, Series S gets bundles. Series S gets Black Friday deals. Heck, I have even seen Series S consoles on store shelves! It's definitely Microsoft's bigger focus.

My thought is that Series S sales turns a profit over Series X so Microsoft manufactures more of those on purpose. Plus, more people will get an S as a secondary "Game Pass" console.

Which is a shame because I see plenty of people online say they got an S purely out of frustration for not being able to acquire an X and will one day get an X when more easily available.

Makes sense. The main thing that was keeping Sony from just steamrolling Microsoft again at the start of the generation was the impact of the pandemic on Sony's supply chains and resultant ability to manufacture hardware. This, combined with Microsoft flooding the market with the easier-to-manufacture Series S and a decent first-party showing in 2021, made them competitive again.

But, since then. Microsoft has done very little to maintain competitive pressure, seems unable to turn out exclusives or system-sellers despite all of their money and studios, and Sony is largely addressing the supply issues that have crippled their presence in the market.

They had breathing room and an opening to strike back at Sony in a big way, but they were just utterly unprepared to do so.

@BranJ0 Momentum from last gen/word of mouth/COD/fortnite effect is one part of it. If you're a casual gamer that knows not much about the platforms, you just want to play fortnite or CoD or a sports game with your friends now and then, PS is the name you know, the first one you'll buy.

Part of it is simply they've had system seller exclusives this past year and Xbox has delayed all of theirs and had a very shaky/DOA Halo launch. PS had 3 of their tentpoles release this year, and Xbox had....0. That may not affect the long term balance, though, but it surely affected 2022. Could the narrative change somewhat after Starfield? Maybe. But then there's Spiderman.

I think business/internet wise it gets a little hazy though. I think for "core gamers" of which most of "internet gaming conversation" comes from is going to be leaning much harder toward Xbox these days. Yet, most of that group ALSO plays PS because there's plenty of exclusives that are desirable. Even if most of your software sales and engagement hours are on XB, that's the same type of gamer that ALSO buys a PS. And a Switch, negating any shift in numbers.

It's also not a zero-sum game though, as each platform tends to attract different customers with different spend patterns (or the same customers that spend differently on each.) Raw console sales is a non-starter on comparison. Since MS's ecosystem focuses on PC and streaming as well. Software revenue is where the real comparison lives, and Sony's still ahead there...but...fueled significantly by that massive causal mtx market. Same as with mobile which dwarfs them both.

Fans tend to look at "Team A" vs "Team B" without splitting "corporate revenue gained from catering to a different market than the one I'm in" vs "corporate revenue focused mainly on the market I'm in." There's overlap between both.

I think CASUAL play wise, PS is the default. MS is trying to pick up a different casual market, but it's almost two different casual market. XSS + GP appeals to a sort of mobile-gaming crowd looking for more. PS appeals to the casual "I play one or two online games/annual sports games but buy mtx" crowd.

If you don't know what to buy, you buy a PS. That makes up a TON of the most casual players. The players that only want a console for Fortnite and FIFA. And it just so happens that mobile-type gamer actually makes up most of the market and spends the most on mtx in aggregate....

@NomNom I agree and disagree on the one detail. Like I said above, I think there's two different "casual" markets. One is that CoD/Fortnite/annual-sports-game crowd that we previously considered casual. They buy one or two games a year, maybe, (or ever) (if ever, if it's not F2P) want to buy what their friends play on and don't know much about games or hardware. PS is the auto default for that market almost 100% of the time. That market makes up most of console sales, and with the mtx, likely most of the revenue. That's why Jim's obsessed with CoD.

There's the other newer casual market that MS is going for with XSS + GP. The very low spend, low engagement customer coming from mobile, or new to games, and much resembles the Wii market made modern. That may be an even bigger potential market and MS could do some crazy sales in that market, but that market isn't fully established yet.

Then there's us, the hardcore gamer. We used to be the whole industry. Now we're a tiny tiny percentage of the gaming market to the point we're almost a 100% irrelevant niche. I'd say Xbox has really been doing the better job focusing on that core gamer market and focusing on the type of gamer that lives on the internet talking about video games. PS has largely started ignoring that customer group because they (rightly I suppose) recognize us as mostly irrelevant to the larger market.

But we're also the market more likely to play multiple consoles. In my case XB has captured most of my general gaming spend, but I also still spend on PS as well, so I don't count as a "win" for Xbox in the metrics as I've offset any XB sales with PS sales. But in terms of raw revenue I've been intentionally building my 3rdparty library on XB first, and PS only if it's not on XB, so in revenue, I'm benefiting MS more than PS. Well, pre-VR2 anyway. All bets are off now

@SplooshDmg I don't think they know the answer. GP is all important to them and GP adoption is saturated on console and still growing on PC/mobile, so it would be obvious that console is an extension of GP. Yet only 17% of gaming rev came from subscription and the rest is all traditional sales and hardware, which suggests for all the bluster, GP is still an extension of the traditional model.

There's also the problem that console, ALL consoles represent a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of total global gaming. Not even PS is THAT relevant in terms of total gaming spend where mobile+PC alone are all that really matters.

But I also think they don't care. They don't want to be king of consoles which they'll see as a tiny part of gaming, they want to be a force in that larger gaming market overall, no matter what combination of avenues it's comprised of.

But mostly they've been hampered by stock shortages (indeed neither console is still "easily" available in the US, but PS seems to be at the moment much more readily available than XB. That'll set the stage in PSs favor easily.) And hampered as well with game delays. Zero, truly ZERO system seller games for 2022. But..without supply to fulfill hardware orders, how much did that matter? Why drop a system seller when you have no system to sell?

Sonys PR and public awareness is second to none or there with Nintendos.
They do an amazing job in that department and also releasing some truly amazing first party AAA games.

In fairness they have at the moment managed to ride in my opinion some not so popular decisions, console and price increases and also not matching the value of game pass.
Especially the start of this year with some big third party release coming to game pass, day one.
Atomic Heart, Wo Long and life of Pi.

It will be very interesting as the years roll on how this all ends up and of course with whole ABK purchase thing.
Of course PS5 will outsell Xbox worldwide by the end of the generation, I would be amazed if they didn’t.

Microsoft are now again playing catch up of course, they need more very good exclusive AAA games and also need to get their own PR act together and become general public trendy again like in the 360 days.

In my own opinion Microsoft made the better console overall and also gave it a couple of nice system items that are useful.
But we all know games sell consoles and game pass and I think they are getting that slowly into the minds at Microsoft finally.

one of the reasons microsoft went all in on gamespass was because phil knew he was going to get trampled on the software front against nintendo and sony again. even at this very moment, xbox gets a free pass from the media outlets and has garnered a good number of supporters strictly due to gamepass which mainly consists of 3rd party support. however, gamespass cannot hide the ugly truth — even in year 3 of the current generation, xbox has not released a single "next gen" experience, let alone anything that might compete with the likes of rathchet and clank, returnal, demons' souls remake, horizon FW or god of war (yes, the latter 2 were cross gen, but are some of the best looking games in the industry and would pass for "next gen" in some ways. i would have preferred that horizon FW and god of war were true ps5 exclusives, but that is a different matter entirely.). so this is essentially the same old microsoft which continues to struggle at project management and diversifying its software portfolio. even an IP as predictable as halo (infinite) is going through turmoil at the moment — player numbers are down significantly; major layoffs and lack of leadership at 343; they are moving the entire game to unreal as their current engine is broken; the list goes on... xbox has been getting destroyed by the competition since 2001 and wouldn't even be left standing right now if microsoft's pockets weren't so deep, to the point where money is not a factor and the rules of competition do not apply. any other competitior would have raised the white flag long ago.

@BranJ0 theres literally no software kr interesting software coming from xbox, players arent buying games so more and more developers skip the platform or do time exclusives. Literally only reason i have a series s is to play the 360 games that are no where else playable

@colonelkilgore haven't you heard? All the decisions were made before Jim took over. PS won't feel the impact of his leadership for the next... 50 years or so. Or, the next time PS struggles. Then it will definitely be solely his fault.

@SplooshDmg TBH, despite fan backlash to the contrary I don't think the position you described of MS is any different from Jim's Sony. Do they REALLY care about console sales? Sure, only because it's they only way they can move 3rd party software and siphon whale milk. If PlayStation had an Android store, they wouldn't care about PS5 either. That's just it, MS wants to be Tencent and Sony wants to be Apple. Thus why Jim is bawling his eyes out over CoD. They'd rather have CoD sales and delist GoW and TLOU if that's what it took.

@Grimwood "always glad when Sony wins. Best company name and logo ever."

LOL, that's a great comment right there

@Dezzy70 TBH I'm happy Sony's feeling boastful and MS is playing catch-up. It's in that balance that MS usually does their best unlike this past year when they were closing the gap and buying ABK and kind of fell asleep at the wheel.

"That’s actually not the case, and the PS5 is actually outperforming the Xbox Series X|S at a ratio greater than the PS4 against the Xbox One at the same point in the previous generation"

I'm incredibly surprised by this given the stock shortages and the Xbox One's disastrous launch.

Maybe time for a price rise in the US then to match everywhere else lol

@GamingFan4Lyf they care enough to use it as a reason why they should be aloud to buy Activision Blizzard

A rental service won't be enough to compensate for the lack of exclusives from last gen and current gen so far (psychonauts, deadloop, minecraft don't count because they are on ps4/5). Ofc people will jump. ofc it was expected for ps to win again with the bad taste ms left last gen... and still is. Objectively speaking. I wish there was an actual competition (not buying publishers)

@Would_you_kindly Of course...it makes money. And it will make money on Mobile, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.

Microsoft doesn't care about being the console sales leader because Xbox as a gaming division can make more money being spread outside the console itself.

@NEStalgia
Absolutely competition is always good.

@GamingFan4Lyf both, the series s and x are sold at a loss, but I think we can safely assume the S is sold at a lower loss.

Your point of ads and discounts, though, is a bit mute. For one I disagree on ads, almost every Xbox series ad i seen advertises both. As for discounts, the series X does not need discounts to sell, it needs stock.

@Porco impressive man how you state all these subjective analysis as objective stats and you really believe them lol, are you phil spencer or something ? lol

@northofthewall Spot on.

@BranJ0 games, Microsoft still doesn’t really have any. It’ll be years before the Bethesda buyout pays dividends for them, and even then it remains to be seen if it’s worthwhile because I suspect Bethesda are done as a developer (I do realise they have some great studios like arkane). Everyone who had a ps4 is going to get a ps5 by default I suspect due to BC so already they’ve got a bigger share due to the ps4 base. Then you have people who didn’t own a ps4 get access to a collection of absolute classic first party Sony games on ps5. If you get a series x you get pretty much nothing you can’t get on the PlayStation.

@jcvandan Bethesda will start delivering for Xbox this year. They already delivered Tango’s HiFi Rush, Arkane‘s Red Fall is coming next, and then there will be Starfield, all this year. The years of waiting for the acquisition of ZeniMax to delivering are over, now we are talking about months.

That alone might not be enough to push the needle competition wise, other studios need to start delivering, but as far as the topic of Zenimax goes, we no longer talking about years.

For what it’s worth, I was a PS4 first player, I own 166 physical PS4 games, and this Gen I have gone Xbox first for all things. I did get a PS5 but I only use it for exclusives, and those I only buy when they go on deep sales.

Tracked to date the PS4 still 5.45 million ahead and the lead continues to grow compared to PS5.
An interesting statistic as well.

@Dezzy70 to be fair Sony increasing the price is just what the world is right now. MS raised the price in India first and now in Japan. Sony did the move first because they are way smaller than MS when it comes to money and that same situation doesn't allow them to match gp value. You can't give your games for free when you need the sales to make more games, MS can.
And the demography also helps gp, most devs know their games are going to sell less on xbox so they go for the secure money MS offers for them to be on gp, Sony can't do that either when there is way more ps out there and more people who would buy the games.

@GymratAmarillo
Definitely two different tactics by two different companies for sure.
But if they wish and they get ABK the super rich company will get you in the end somehow.

By the way that is not what I want but the fear of.

Well deserved success... and this is after Microsoft's d*ck move of stealing Bethesda.

Part of it is Microsoft's strategy in which an Xbox is not even needed. As primarily a PC gamer, I have no need for an Xbox anymore or any reason to buy Xbox games. I can just subscribe to Game Pass here and there to play them for pennies on the dollar. It's truly a baffling strategy that only makes sense when you're a trillion-dollar company trying to use brute force to change the way an industry operates.

@Tharsman "As for discounts, the series X does not need discounts to sell, it needs stock."

That might be the case in the US, I don't know, but in the UK the Series X is in stock in pretty much every major retailer, and has been going back months.

PS5 is good but not out of this world. Sony has always had a bad interface for their consoles and really bad online subs. I just use it for playing exclusives other than that I’m on the switch or Xbox ….

@RicebinBernacky i dont if its bragging. Its a financial report to shareholders showing that the strength of their investments

I bought a Series X a year & a half ago, and I hardly ever turn it on.

The reseller market for used PS5's is still booming, still commanding [far more than] the retail price. Meanwhile, I can't sell my Series X for anywhere near retail price. And this is in America... Says it all right there.

@Rmg0731 Right but Sony has been bending over backwards to show how devastating it would be to lose Call of Duty etc. I can't imagine that all these reports of how well they're doing will help their case

@Dezzy70 “Tracked to date the PS4 still 5.45 million ahead and the lead continues to grow compared to PS5.
An interesting statistic as well.”

Only whilst major supply constraints existed. Sony just adjusted upwards their PS5 Shipment target for this quarter to 6.2M. The PS4shipped 2.4M in the equivalent quarter.

If they hit that target that’s a 3.8m swing in one quarter, and probably similar story the rest of the year.

@Intr1n5ic fair enough, my reply was very much in the topic of US sales since that’s the theme of the article. Even then I feel not even discounts will change the perception for Xbox in the UK or Japan. For the console to gain additional momentum in those markets, Xbox needs strong highly desirable exclusives. The lineup so coming this year might help in the UK but doubt it will do anything in Japan.

Mind you, I don’t expect Xbox to even get close to overtaking PS in any market other than potentially the US, provided they deliver games in the next few years and can stock up in the US.

@GamingFan4Lyf The $69 billion check they offered Activision is a clear sign that not only they do care, but are pretty desperate.

@Art_Vandelay The deal is about expanding their gaming division to make money outside of the just the Xbox console itself.

That is the point I am trying to make: Microsoft doesn't care if Sony is selling more consoles because Microsoft's strategy isn't all about the console.

Sony's console market lead will benefit Microsoft anyways after the ABK acquisition goes through since Microsoft is treating the ABK acquisition in the same way it treated the Mojang acquisition: make games available everywhere, reap the benefits.

@BranJ0 Only thing Microsoft has going for it right now is Game Pass. Look at Halo Infinite's poor launch or their generally weak first party support this last year; there's little reason to get one besides it being available when the PS5 isn't.

@ChrisDeku
Let’s see what happens and see if PS5 catches PS4 up.
There is very good supply in the UK even of solo disc editions so it should do.

But don’t forget money is getting tighter and tighter as the year goes on.
Higher electric bills come April and less government help. Interest rates just gone up to 4%,food rising still.
There are tough times ahead this year.

@BranJ0 The thing is everyone is crying about value in gaming with the gamepass for its nothing run through your games and don't own anything.

I want to buy a game play when I feel like it.

@Dezzy70 The electric companies are making record profits and they still charge us the max its kinda baffling.

One thing is for certain as countries we now find out we need to be less depended on other countries especially the criminal ones.

@Flaming_Kaiser
There are many companies including oil, petrol, gas and electric that are legal criminals right now taking massive advantage and making record profits over all this.

And governments do nothing because that is where their investments and interests are personally. And who they get electoral backing from.
This includes all countries like UK and USA.

@Dezzy70 You know Shell a so called Dutch company that was dissapointed to leave the Netherlands. Those ***** took their main office to the UK just to dodge taxes.

It's a pity that countries facilitate this with the Netherlands included that help the rich dodge as much taxes as possible.

The most dispicable action was from exxion that was holding a press conference. To say that don't feel like bad guy and sees people struggle to get gas to warm their houses but they where the heroes and brought Liquid gas to Europe....

@Flaming_Kaiser
It’s all business and corrupt as always.
Then it’s us average people that suffer the most and end up paying for it.
The tax dodge is set up by governments to get companies to set up in their countries as well.

I bought both on release day 2020, the first thing I experienced was that XsX felt like Xbox One 1.5. Same controller, same menus, same case for the games but with ps5 everything felt new and fresh, really next gen. Not everyone wants to pay for better graphics when the rest is identical to what they already have..

@GamingFan4Lyf Phill?.. Is that you?

@Art_Vandelay Darn it, you caught me! LOL!

NOTE: Joke.

I have gamed with Phil Spencer, though.

@Th3solution No need to get a xbox anymore just PS and PC with gamepass.

@Dezzy70 Totally agreed.

@BranJ0 it is a bit of a mystery while they released some great games in 21 and 22 they bulk of the sales were on last Gen systems suppose we'll see if they have more than Spiderman 2 to contend with Xboxs purely Next Gen release Salvo the coming months

I've said this a million times before but, Xbox do not care about the number consoles they sell. It's a completely irrelevant stat.