Source: Future Publishing / Getty
The console wars aren’t really that much of a thing, but based on these numbers, it’s clear who’s winning the battle of the next-gen systems.
Despite them being painstakingly hard to find, the PS5 is currently king when it comes to what next-gen console gamers spend their money on. Currently, Sony has managed to more than double Microsoft’s console sales, moving an impressive 2.83 million PlayStation 5 units, while Microsoft’s Xbox Series X has sold at 1.31 million units.
That’s quite a feat to pull off despite a chip shortage that could last until 2023 IBM confirmed that even has President Joe Biden and his administration concerned. Regardless, many expect those numbers to hold with the PS5 continuing to outsell the Xbox Series X. Another interesting development to come out of this is data showing that customers are still buying the PS4 because they can’t get their hands on a PS5 resulting in the older console having a high market share.
BUT, the true king of the console market is Nintendo moving an incredible 5.86 million Switch units, more than both companies combined. Nintendo could chalk that up the insane popularity of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which fueled interest in its family of Switch consoles during the pandemic to the point you couldn’t find one anywhere.
These numbers are impressive, but it would be a safe bet to assume a good number of those PS5 consoles are not actually ending up in people’s homes but instead garages of resellers who utilize bots to scoop them up. StockX recently shared that over 100,000 PS5 consoles were sold on its online marketplace and marked up prices, and that’s just honestly outrageous.
In comparison, the demand for the Xbox Series X isn’t that high, with only 49,000 being sold on StockX. To combat the bot nuisance, retailers like Target are starting to use a store-by-store inventory system that allows brick-and-mortar locations to list their stock of PS5 and Xbox Series X consoles as they come in, giving customers an advantage over bots.
Despite those steps, it’s still a daunting challenge to purchase either console, but you can head here if you need some tips.
While there isn’t much of a leap in performance when comparing both consoles, Sony’s strong lineup of exclusive games like Spider-Man: Mile’s Morales, Returnal, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart are luring more gamers while Xbox Series X only has Xbox Game Pass which is great but clearly not enough.
Truth be told, you can’t go wrong with either system. We honestly love the Xbox Series X. You can peep our review here.
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Photo: Future Publishing / Getty
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