Late last week, NPD console sales numbers were revealed, showing that Xbox Series X|S outsold PS5 in the US during February. Well, that trend also spread across the majority of Europe last month, as the Xbox Series X|S outsold PS5 in that region too.
For the first time since the new consoles launched, Xbox Series X|S pulled ahead of PS5 sales in Europe, for the month of February. This is pretty significant, as Europe is a much larger market for PlayStation than it is for Xbox.
However, there are a few key points to make here. First off, these numbers are heavily affected by the stock issues plaguing much of the industry. This is likely the main reason Xbox has done so well, in fact, GamesIndustry.biz says that's the case, and that the Series S is helping Xbox due to its availability.
We should also note that these numbers exclude two European markets; the UK and Germany. It's unclear whether these two countries would change the overall sales outcome.
Even with these stock issues, it's good to see strong Xbox sales globally. Let's hope Xbox carries this momentum forward into the coming months.
What do you make of this sales data? Let us know in the comments.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 19
Probably just no stock this month PS and lots available for xbox.
I didn't realize this excluded the UK and Germany. The former makes some sense from the outside looking in, but Germany? That's like the US not counting Texas or California.
Good to see but these numbers mean nothing except who can manufacture and distribute more consoles in a given month.
Queue the line of people claiming it’s only because there were no PS5s and people had to settle despite the fact that the XBox has been selling out as soon as it’s stocked up.
@Tharsman Where I’m at I can pretty much walk into Walmart and grab a Series S at this point. Is it different where you are?
@themightyant Perhaps, but arranging a manufacturing and distribution chains is part of the business and whether we like it or not, has an impact on which console gets bigger base
@FatalBubbles Same in Germany. to the point, I wish they made less of this S thing so we could get more Series X things.
@Tharsman Agreed. Even though there is a stock shortage they are still impressive numbers if only from Microsoft resource allocation. The company sells a lot more than gaming hardware and could probably use those chips in other departments. The fact that they are still out producing Sony in both the US and parts of Europe is a good sign of how they view the Xbox brand.
@YessMasster I don't disagree with that. Just saying that at the moment both consoles are unavailable 99% of the time and sold out quickly. If you aren't an enthusiast and don't follow sites like this, or stock drop twitter accounts, then it is very hard for the average consumer to get either one. As such we can't really read too much into these sort of statistics until you are able to go into a store and buy one. Xbox sells more when they have stock drops, PlayStation sells more when they have drops, Switch OLED sells more generally when they have stock drops.
I think the S is why the numbers are better for MS. People that use other systems will pick it up for the price to play those games that are not multiplatform. The price of the S makes it possible.
This is going to continue for the next few years, one month xbox sell more than the next month playstation sell more etc etc I wouldnt read too much into these until some overall total figures come out.
As for example in February xbox may sell 1 million more than playstation then in March playstation sell 2 million more than xbox then repeat that cycle so each console would have 6 months where it sold better but actually the one console sold twice as much
@Tharsman it does seem to me that making judgements on which consoles do better is irrelevant until both are readily available
@RedShirtRod that is true, not only are they getting enough chips to stock up this way, but they are also throwing chips at server racks that are not counted in these stats.
@shred5 last article on this line noted the XBox did better in both, units and dollar sales than PS5 (Switch beat both on both counts.)
This means that it's not about the Series S. The Series S definitively sells, but for the unit sale to beat the PS5 dollar sales, they need to have a higher XSX to XSS ratio than Sony has a PS5 to PS5AD.
@Tharsman Well not having PS5s does play a significant part in PS5 not selling as much as Xbox. Let's at least be real on that part. Xbox still sold amazing and will continue to do so.
@FatalBubbles yeah the series S hasn't been out of stock once since launch here
Bit off topic, but between the Xbox Series X and PS5, does anyone else feel that Quick Resume on the Xbox is literally the best feature this generation between the 2 consoles?! No?! Just me then lol.
@uptownsoul Not really, the Souls franchise has a heavy association with PS from its legacy fanbase and placed marketing. The whole thing started as an exclusive, after all. Makes sense it would have a larger built-in fanbase there. I'm more surprised that PS5 "only" makes up 27% and the two combined are 43%. That means PS4 and PC accounts for most of the sales, where I'd have thought the early PS5 market would have been most of the fanbase.
@GuruOfGreatness I do too! At least, when it works correctly, which is kind of a 60/40 kind of thing. But having to see title screens and company logos on frequently switch games drives me crazy on PS5/Switch now. And on XS when the game falls on that /40 side.
@uptownsoul like I said, most of the souls fanbase legacy is on PS, so PS overperforming for it isn't surprising. But total install base doesn't necessarily matter. I'm mostly surprised that most of the games audience doesn't land on the PS5 early adopters. You'd think PS5 owners would be the primary target market.
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