PS5 Is Destroying Xbox Series X|S In Console Sales And It's Not Even Close
Has Microsoft lost the current-generation console war? That's a loaded question, but if strictly looking at the number of Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles sold versus how many PlayStation 5 systems are in the wild, then the answer is yes, and it really hasn't been a close fight—Sony's PS5 unit sales to date are more than double that of Microsoft's Xbox Series X and S combined.
That's according to data shared by The Wall Street Journal in a YouTube video report, which goes on to explain why Microsoft is not out of the fight despite the discrepancy in console sales. We'll get to that in a moment, but first let's look at a breakdown of console sales figures.
The graph is a little confusing at first glance because it lists the year that each console launched, as opposed to when the hardware sales figures were collected. Both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S launched in November 2020, hence the 2020 labels. However, the sales figures are current as of just a few months ago—June 2024.
Sony is upfront about its PS5 console sales, and it was already known that it sold nearly 62 million units to date, a figure that was revealed with its last earnings report. Microsoft is not as forthcoming, and so that 28.3 million figure of combined Xbox Series X and S sales in the graph above is plucked from Aldora Intelligence.
Viewed from this lens, sales of Sony's PS5 are 118% higher than Microsoft's combined Xbox Series X and S consoles. A split in Sony's favor isn't really unexpected, though some people may be surprised to see such a decided advantage for the PS5. It's also worth nothing that Sony recently announced an upgraded PlayStation 5 Pro, which could widen the gap, depending on how it's received by gamers.
The actual gaming landscape is more complex than a simple breakdown of units sales, though. As the video highlights, Microsoft has a massive market cap and has made a series of acquisitions, like acquiring Zenimax and Activision-Blizzard.
Microsoft's also pushing its Xbox Game Pass service in a big way, which has around 34 million subscribers. And of course there are plans to launch new generation consoles. Which is all to say, this is an ongoing war.
