Xbox Series X And S Console Sales Up Year-On-Year In Europe

There's now plenty of unsold stock in the UK and think sales will be coming to a standstill.

It's simply down to the lack of any big exclusive games this year after the Starfield delay. Only Game Pass has saved them, they would be finished without it. Consumers don't trust in Microsoft delivering on first party games after broken promises and excuses year after year.

PS5 will sell more depending if they can get stock out. Sony has God of War Ragnarok coming out and always has a steady first party lineup. They never go a whole year without a big exclusive.

@uptownsoul their European sales are most likely the same or higher than last year, whilst its American and Asian sales are down

@Geezer they are probably working on a massive shipment of stock ready for god of wars release and Christmas

Welcome to the fam newbies. See you online with a #1 in front of my gamertag! Great to hear, Xbox is the best value in gaming right now & Elden Ring is a slapper. Don't really need console exclusives (even though we got those)when the 3rd party games are so good. Use the Looking for Group feature if you don't wanna be lonely or need help in a challenge

@Geezer
Totally agree sales are as good as at a stand still
Where I live. For all the reasons you mentioned.

@Skedaddle It does but they are not games that people can't get on Sony except Forza. Some others you mention are not out this year Contraband etc and nobody knows what happened to Goldeneye.

It's the exclusive games that ultimately sell consoles. Hopefully next year Xbox can finally deliver what they have been promising for years.

Good to hear that sales are up, but there is plenty of stock. Game sent me an email this morning stating 2 free months of Gamepass Ultimate free with every Series X or S purchase... That means they have stock they need to shift if they are adding in for free the Gamepass..
I think sales are certainly slowing..
It's not a good sign that they are adding in free extras but good if your still wanting to get a Series X

@Geezer didnt take long for someone to bring up sony and their exclusives on an article that has nothing to do with it on a xbox fansite. Could you be anymore predictable?

And all those on here a year or so ago when I said sales will slow even with game pass about as a console and game pass needs big AAA exclusives and very good PR.
Yes Sony had massive momentum from the PS4 but Microsoft are hardly helping themselves with no big exclusives.
Also from the PS4 days Sony took the FIFA crowd and sponsor ship rights etc and made it the FIFA home. Similar with COD.
Xbox won’t do any better than last generation, maybe some small marginal growth but nothing like some on here were bragging about, like the second coming of Xbox and the 360 days.
No chance what so ever of that happening.

@Dezzy70 TBH that's the way I wanted it to go from the start (you can quote me back on the NL Xbox thread for that before PXB was even revived), I said I wanted Xbox to fail, because as long as they're the underdog they keep trying harder and harder. If they suddenly became a major success, we'd see the same Matrick/Ryan cycle befall XB again. Long as they're successful enough to keep going and trying, but not so successful they get arrogant, we win.

I'm still not optimistic they won't suddenly get a second wind and surge to success the second half of the gen. If they do, we'll suffer for it, next gen. Though the flip side is it would likely cause PS to improve.

@NEStalgia
Competition and position in the competition is weird sometimes as all we really want is amazing top end games.
But I think Microsoft have a much bigger hill to climb than I first thought and a longer time doing so.
I just want them to release great AAA games at the level of Sony and Nintendo on a regular basis and for me the only one in 2 years this November is FH5. Halo Infinite was good but not a big AAA for me campaign wise.
We shall see what happens and continue to watch developments.

@Dezzy70 Does Nintendo ever release "AAA" games? Seriously, their own teams (Monolith/Xenoblade) have described it as "more of an AA title." I think everyone's idea of "AAA" is different, and to a large degree is just based on a visual expectation more than anything. For Nintendo's part, they don't really see their titles (maybe except BOTW) as "AAA". And I, personally wouldn't qualify any of them as "AAA", but, then, personally I find "AA" games tend to be the best games overall, where AAA are shallow tech demos that cater to the masses, Indies are too small and shallow, and "AA" tends to hit the sweet spot of depth and gameplay and visuals without going crazy.

Technically I'd consider Bethesda titles more "AA" than "AAA" in general, as well (they surely don't push any boundaries in the looks department aside from id!) but they still cost fortunes to make just to to the sheer scale and scope of the games. I know Phil had that thing about "AAAA" which is hilarious, but I'm happy see Starfield still has that "AA" feel, because that tells me the depth will be supreme still. If Behtesda tried to go too "tech demo" I think it would be a disaster.

But yeah, agreed that first party-wise FH5 is the only "big" title so far. Actually, no, Psychonauts 2, though that's multiplat. Call it AA or AAA, IDC, it's just such a good game But there's just SO MANY GAMES, especially if you have all 3 platforms, that it's hard to care much. I'll never be able o keep up, or afford EVERYTHING I'm drowning in. XB may not have much in the way of exclusives yet, but for anyone that chose XB over PS, there's certainly no dearth of games coming along to play overall, and as for exclusives Starfield will devour my existence for months, no matter when it comes out because I'm a sucker for Bethesda stuff....

On the Sony side, Stray is life, but I'm not a huge GoW18 fan so Ragnarok is definitely on the "buy later on a sale" pile, and HFW comes before it, which I still have to finish the first one before I buy that, and I keep pushing it further back on my backlog for now. And a conversation has me half tempted to go back and try to not hate Detroit one more time before that.

@NEStalgia
I think Mario kart and Mario odyssey and of course BOTW I would class as Nintendo AAA.
Even maybe Luigi mansion 3 for me.

As for Starfield it is pulling me in just yet I was not wow I must have that game after the showcase, something not clicking for me yet.
Maybe when released we shall see.

I know it’s just me but Nintendo pull me in with BOTW, Mario odyssey type games.
Sony pull me in with HFW, GOW, last of us etc.
Microsoft pulled with FH5 and for a little while Halo infinite. But they are not showing me anything of late that pulls me in. I’ve as good as left Xbox for the moment.
With focus on a bit of Kirby, MK8 and HFW

@uptownsoul Demand in the UK has certainly now lessened to the supply of stock available.
I think it's because of a few things, it's summer so people are out alot more doing other things than gaming. Cost of living crisis certainly plays a part. Game delays and a increased supply of stock mean the stock has now caught up with the demand.
I know someone who works in Game, he said they have 45+ Series X in stock. They are selling roughly 3/4 a day but are due some more next week. So stock is plentiful but the demand is waning..
Also a worrying thing he said is that as third party games physically sell poorly on Xbox due to many being on Gamepass they were looking at reducing the shelf space for physical Xbox games...

@Dezzy70 Mario Kart never really pulls me in. I spend a week with it and then I'm done for a generation or two. IDK, it just seems so shallow.

But yeah, "Nintendo AAA equivalent", sure, is Odyseey, BOTW.... I love Mansion 3 and Kirby, but to me they're squarely AA. Not a bad thing though since, like I said, that's why I love them.

For MS, TBH most of their exclusives have always done little for me other than Fable, but now they have most of the big WRPGs short of Bioware and CDPR, and most of those represent favorite franchises/studios going back to the 90's on PC, so I'm not too worried they're going to have content pulling me in, even if it's not ready "today." I followed Dragon Age from 1999.....I'm used to waiting for this stuff

@BANJO
Totally agree with you and said this on here a few months ago but no one believed me and just knocked me down. Now more are seeing this slow down in sales it is very evident.
My local shop can go weeks without selling a series x and I’m in a very big town.

It’s like I said, when you talk about shop shelf’s spacing and PR. When you look at game charts in the shops not a single Xbox only title, many Nintendo and PlayStation with the console name next to them. Sometimes it’s like Xbox don’t exist in some shops. After what you said it’s gonna get worse. Microsoft currently even with game pass are giving Xbox no help or free PR what so ever.
They have no exclusive momentum going for the rest of the year or into Christmas. Also not that sure about 2023, no date given.
You could not mess it up anymore if your tried at the moment Microsoft.

@Dezzy70 I know Japan has that behavior, maybe the UK does too, that only exclusive games sell consoles? It seems strange. The biggest games most people buy are multiplat. Most people just want a good system to play them on, whether it's what friends play, or what's the best price, or best features, whatever. I often hear on forums from EU/UK posters about how "American's buy Xbox because it's American", but that's not it at all ,you never hear people buy "an American console" we're dense across the pond, but not so dense we don't view every big global behemoth corporation as just another big global behemoth corporation of no national identity. But it's just a different view that, for the mass market (not forum enthusiasts) it's just not about "the exclusives" like you hear about online, it's just "Oh, I wanna play....AC Valhalla, XB looks good, GP looks like a good value" ,etc. PS still outsells it for the moment, but, mostly just because that's what people are familiar with from others, etc. Word of mouth marketing. Admittedly it's an uphill battle, but people just aren't as exclusives fussed, overall here.

If people buy PS over XB here, from the mainstream, it's almost never "because exclusives" (weebs aside), it's usually just "that's what their friends have" - meaning the problem still has more to do with slowly closing the PS4 deficit than it does with exclusives specifically.

The biggest thing favoring Sony is probably just marketing. Their marketing is flashy and seems to always be where most people are looking. Xbox....not so much. They took notes from WiiU's marketing or something

@fizban3332 I'm no fanboy for any console I have Xbox series X, PS5 and PC. Each has their benefits and negatives but some of us gamers like to have a choice.

I was clearly stating that Xbox demand will be gone due in particular that they have no exclusives.

I'm sorry if you're offended by the truth I think that you are the fanboy (Xbot). I'm not sorry for liking Sony/PC exclusives either and Microsoft needs to up their game to stay competitive.

@Dezzy70 The slow down is very real certainly. What with (finally) increased supply means all of a sudden stock is sitting on shelves. Switch games physically continue to perform above expectations generally. It's longevity is amazing.
As you say Microsoft have no exclusive momentum, which is true.
As for messing it up however, Microsoft have the deepest pockets so if they see a vision they want they can make it happen... The ball is in their court, it just depends how much they care..

@Geezer thats fine to have that opinion. bringing up in articles that have nothing to do with it just to start a flame war is a little telling on your part. MS is selling well despite your "no exclusives" argument, if it was not then maybe your argument might make sense.

@fizban3332 My comment was related to the article. I'm just stating why Xbox demand will be lower and Sony doesn't go a whole year without exclusives. My comments are as valid as anyone else.

Sales for Xbox are stalling due to poor management of it's game studios. Consumers are not stupid and will know that they have nothing this year which directly affects sales.

Also for your information PS5 has sold more overall but Xbox has done better than the dire One era.

@Skedaddle Forza Hot wheels is not a new game only DLC. Plenty of people do not like Dusk Falls and Stray on PS+ has been much better received.

Pentiment is low budget rubbish and not up to Obsidian's normal standard. Everyone was rushing to play CrossfireX I think not as it's another buggy mess of a game. The servers will be shut down soon as nobody plays it.

The rest that you mention are not console seller's and many don't even have a release date. This article was about console sales and I'm pointing out Xbox has no big exclusives for the rest of the year. They have only survived due to Game Pass and nothing else.

I think it's funny how people will defend corporations like their you're friend. Fact is it's been absolute rubbish from Xbox this year. The competition is doing much better.

@Skedaddle Playstation owners won’t play God of War??? Are you serious??? The last God of War sold about 20 million copies an it was incredible. It also won GOTY beating Red Dead 2 in to second place. Ragnorok will sell above 20 million copies guaranteed!!

@Skedaddle Minecraft, Candy Crush an Roblox are playable on mobiles. A lot more people have mobiles an tablets than Playstation an Xbox’s. No way can they be compared. An to say no one who plays these games will be interested in Ragnarok is simply not true. Do you only ever play one game? My 8 year old twin boys play Roblox, Minecraft, Hello Neighbour, God of War, Fifa, WWE 2K22, Gran Turismo, Forza, Gears, etc.