New Data Seems To Show PS5 Is Outselling Xbox By 2-To-1

I don’t think the idea that Sony’s PS5 is outselling Microsoft’s Xbox Series X|S would come as a surprise to anyone. After all, Sony provides sales data, and Microsoft hasn’t done that in years. Giant corporations don’t tend to stay quiet when the news is good. And now, new data would seem to indicate what we’ve all long suspected: The Xbox Series X/S is getting creamed by the PS5, by potentially as much as two PS5s sold for every one Xbox.

Microsoft’s Xbox sales have been a mystery since 2016 when the company stopped reporting hardware sales. During Microsoft’s regulatory battles on the way to purchasing Activision Blizzard, it was said that the PS4 outsold the Xbox One by 2-to-1. Now, a financial report detailing the number of next-gen consoles out in the wild seems to reveal, through some back-of-the-serviette maths, that Microsoft’s latest console isn’t doing any better.

According to a slide from Take-Two Games’ Q3 financial report, about 77 million “Gen 9” consoles have been sold as of December 2023. Gen 9 represents the Xbox Series X|S and PS5. Figuring out how much of that 77 million is Xbox and how much is PS5 isn’t too tricky, even if Microsoft refuses to provide sales stats. Instead, we can look at Sony’s stats, which in December 2023 revealed that 50 million PS5s had been sold to consumers. Assuming Sony has sold around a million more consoles since then, it’s likely that Xbox has only moved about 25 million consoles worldwide. Add it all up, and Sony’s PS5 has likely sold twice as well as Xbox Series X|S.

Normally, this data wouldn’t be too exciting and it wouldn’t set off too many fire alarms online. But it comes in a week when many of the Xbox faithful are waiting to see what the future of the brand looks like. Reports emerged earlier this week that suggested big exclusives, like Starfield, might make their way to PS5. It’s set off a huge firestorm as people wait to hear from Xbox boss Phil Spencer next week and learn what the future of Xbox will be.

A fresh wave of data showing how badly Xbox consoles are selling will not help calm these folks down. The current worry is that Microsoft will pull a Sega, an unlikely scenario in which it ditches hardware and begins publishing its games on all platforms. We will all know more next week.