The latest salvo has been fired in the eternal battle for console supremacy, with recently revealed sales figures indicating the PlayStation 5 has outsold the Xbox Series X|S by a margin of roughly 2:1 this generation.
As Sony extends its commanding market leadership, Microsoft finds itself on the back foot once again despite bullish ambitions in the gaming space.
Reading Between the Sales Lines
As of December 2022, an estimated 77 million 9th generation consoles have been sold according to developer Take Two Interactive. With Sony announcing PS5 has surpassed 50 million units sold as of November, that leaves Xbox Series X|S tallying a comparatively paltry ~27 million systems moved to date.
The stark contrast comes even as Microsoft adds mega-franchises like Call of Duty to its arsenal via the upcoming $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition. And with Xbox gaming revenues still dragging bottom lines into the red, it illustrates the continued dominance of Sony’s platform among gamers’ hearts and minds.
What’s Next in the Console Wars?
Rumors swirled that Xbox may consider releasing franchise tentpoles like Starfield on rival platforms, but Microsoft gaming chief Phil Spencer promised updates on Xbox’s future strategy next week. After mass layoffs across the company, they surely can’t be running up the white flag on hardware ambitions already.
But with PS5 again asserting its superiority this generation, Xbox will need to take dramatic steps to close the yawning sales gap with its nemesis. Though Ubisoft’s CEO argues Xbox going multiplatform may not drastically disrupt the status quo, these latest numbers show Microsoft needs some disruption to stop playing constant catchup.
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