PS5 Sales Estimated to be Double Those of Xbox Series X|S

With Xbox possibly gearing up to announce significant changes around the future of its business this week, the focus is turning to its hardware strategy and position in the console “race”. 

According to a recent report from Take-Two Interactive, Xbox currently sits firmly in third place.

What Do the Latest Sales Figures Show?

A slide in Take-Two’s report gives insight into the state of the industry. 

It shows that over 3 billion gamers are actively playing video games globally, representing a massive $222 billion market. 

It also reveals that an estimated 77 million “Gen 9” consoles have been sold up to December 31st, 2023.

This number covers combined sales of both PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. 

While Xbox doesn’t share its sales data, PS5 has surpassed 50 million units in that timeframe. 

Using simple math, Xbox Series X|S sales likely land around 27 million – almost half that of PlayStation 5.

This comes alongside growing rumors that Xbox plans to bring some of its biggest exclusive games, like Starfield, to competing platforms.

So all signs point to Xbox shifting its long-held strategy. 

But Xbox boss Phil Spencer has announced an upcoming “business update event” this week, promising more clarity:

“We’re listening and we hear you. We’ve been planning a business update event for next week, where we look forward to sharing more details with you about our vision for the future of Xbox. Stay tuned.”

How Could This Affect Xbox’s Console Ambitions?

If Xbox does start releasing its exclusives on PlayStation and Nintendo platforms, it could greatly reduce the incentive for gamers to choose Xbox Series X|S consoles. 

This may worsen Xbox’s current hardware sales gap compared to PlayStation 5.

However, taking its games multi-platform would also greatly expand Xbox’s potential audience and revenue. 

With allegedly over 10 million Game Pass subscribers, Microsoft already has a significant digital ecosystem for delivering content outside of Xbox hardware alone. 

Enabling gameplay across more devices could further accelerate subscriber growth.

So, whatever Xbox reveals this week, it seems clear they plan to lean heavily into services over devices.