PS5 Sold More Units In 2023 alone Than lifetime of Xbox Series S|X

Is Xbox dying? Say it is not so!

Microsoft set out with high hopes to reclaim market share when it launched the Xbox Series S|X, following setbacks encountered with the Xbox One. The focus for Xbox this generation has been on rectifying previous mistakes, which has resulted in a more robust exclusive game lineup than that of the PlayStation 5 (PS5).

Despite Xbox’s efforts, PlayStation’s stronghold on the market remains unyielding, demonstrated by the staggering sales of the PS5 in 2023, which eclipsed the total lifetime sales of the Xbox Series S|X since their release.

Why it matters: The lackluster sales performance of the Xbox Series S|X could potentially jeopardize the future of Microsoft’s physical gaming hardware division in an extreme scenario.

Take-Two’s Insightful Report
Take-Two’s financial report last week shed light on the sales landscape, revealing that 77 million units of the current generation consoles had been sold by the end of December 2023. Sony’s announcement of 50 million PS5 sales that year led to speculation that the Xbox Series S|X had sold approximately 27 million units.

However, Sony’s latest financial report paints a different picture, one where the PS5’s sales were even more dominant. With 8.2 million PS5s sold in the third quarter of 23, Sony’s total as of December 31st reached 54.8 million units.

 

This leaves the Xbox Series S|X with a count of 22.2 million units within Take-Two’s 77 million estimate. By calculating Sony’s sales for the first three quarters of Fiscal Year 23 and the fourth quarter of 22, it’s clear that the PS5 outsold its entire lifetime sales in 2023 alone, reaching approximately 22.7 million units.

An image from PlayStation’s financial report released earlier today illustrates this point. Underlining the gravity of the situation is Xbox’s less than two million unit sales in the latter half of 2023.

According to an internal Microsoft presentation in June, the Xbox Series S|X had reached 21 million sales. However, by December 31st, based on Take-Two’s figures, only an additional 1.2 million units had been sold, totaling 22.2 million.

During the holiday season, the Xbox Series S|X saw significant price reductions, with the Series S dropping below $200 and the Series X to as little as $350. Despite these aggressive discounts and similar price cuts for the PS5, the sales figures were still unexpected.

The substantial sales gap might be informing Xbox’s potential shift towards a multiplatform approach for some of its most successful titles. Microsoft is poised to host a business update tomorrow to outline this strategy in more detail.

 

While Microsoft’s execution this generation may not have been fundamentally flawed, the Xbox hardware division seems to be underperforming compared to the dismal sales of the Xbox One in 2013, previously considered a low point for the company.

Despite the challenges, rumors suggest Xbox isn’t ready to concede defeat, with whispers of plans for an Xbox handheld device in the next generation. Such a device could potentially invigorate the competitive landscape between Sony and Microsoft.