Topic: Tracking Xbox Sales

It would be fantastic if this site had on the main page a tracker that should weekly the sales updates of xbox.

It does not have to be anything fancy but would be cool to see how much Xbox Series systems are selling around the world every week.

Almost every week you have newspieces in here with the games launching on the system, gamepass and gold and also biggest sales

@Balta666 I think the OP is asking for the number of units sold, worldwide, etc

@PhhhCough Yes, this is what I am talking about.

@PhhhCough @Ashadelo oh my bad. Those Numbers are under NDA in all markets apart from Japan. The only ones that can give them is Microsoft itself and they have not share them in many many years (since Xbox One was not having a good performance in comparison with PS4)

@Ashadelo MS's primary platform appears to be Game Pass. All their 1st Party (Starfield, Halo, Forza etc), Xbox Publishing (Contraband by Avalanche), ID@Xbox and 3rd Party Deals (MLB21, Outriders, Plague Tale etc) are ALL for Game Pass.

Of course for Console owners who want the 'traditional' Console format, that does mean that the Xbox consoles will get a LOT more console exclusives coming that they can buy and play too so will be more 'competitive'. Those who don't have/want Game Pass will still benefit because those games will still release on Day 1 on Console.

However, Game Pass will impact on Console (and of course Software sales - especially the first few months). Those games being available on PC, Mobile and now even last gen consoles via streaming will impact sales of Series consoles. Why buy a Series S/X when you can play all those games on Day 1 for 'free' with your PC, why upgrade when you can play via streaming on XB1?

MS's Primary focus on Game Pass, knowing they ideally need at least 1'big' game a month to encourage and then keep subscribers will of course benefit the Series consoles too - after all, its a fantastic platform for Game Pass too and will no doubt attract people who want the 'value' Game Pass brings but MS aren't really too concerned with being the 'best selling' console (its one of a 'few' choices) but more interested in the overall number of people in their ecosystem. They are not interested in how well a game sells (it has no relevance to the quality etc), but the number of people who play. No way would Sea of Thieves reached over 25m people if it wasn't on Game Pass and may well of flopped after the first month. Forza Horizon 5 had over 10m players in the first week.

If you want to play R&C, Demon Souls, Returnal etc Day1, you have to buy a PS5 to play these. Some may well come to PC at a later date, but Sony want you to buy their Hardware to play their games and want to have #1 best selling games so their games will be only available on their Hardware (initially). Therefore, their 'games' are being used to push 'hardware' sales but with MS, their games may 'help' push sales of their Hardware, but their Primary purpose is to encourage you into Subscribing to Game Pass even if you do buy a Series S/X - even their 'All-Access' option is about committing you to 2yrs of Game Pass and providing you with great hardware for it. That's why MS doesn't believe its competing with 'Sony' anymore. If Sony sell 100m PS5's, that's their 'user' base, that's the limit of their reach but with MS if they only sell 50m Series consoles, their user base is significantly higher and in theory can reach all 3bn gamers because those gamers all have a 'compatible' Game Pass device. Even PS5 gamers will have everything they need - like a Mobile, and can even use their DS5 too.

That's another reason MS's console sales are 'unimportant' because it doesn't tell the whole story. If they announced say 10m sales, that doesn't mean that their reach, their user base, their 'ecosystem' is at best, just 10m people. When negotiating with 3rd Parties, their 'reach' is important and for Sony, that is the number of Consoles so important to them.

Point is that Sales of Hardware (which is 'optional' as those games are available elsewhere - PC/Mobile) are not an 'important' metric for MS anymore so I doubt we will hear 'official' sales numbers from MS. You are far more likely to hear about Game Pass Subscriber numbers or number of players who have played the game. As long as the Hardware is competitive with PS5 and public perception is favourable, that's what matters more than actual sales numbers.

As I said, Sales are an important metric for Sony and therefore they are still going to give that information out. If Console sales numbers were 'important' to MS, they would not release their games on PC or Game Pass on Day 1 as they would use those games to sell Consoles - the 'only' way to play 'Fable, Starfield, Perfect Dark etc' Day1 would be to buy a Series S/X but as Game Pass is their Primary Platform, those games come to Game Pass Day 1 for 'free' and you don't 'need' a Series S/X to play it.