PS5 is outselling Xbox Series 3-to-1, now surpassing 50 million units sold

[Shawn Knight]

The big picture: Sony's PlayStation 5 now ranks among the top 15 best-selling video game consoles of all time. Sony Interactive Entertainment recently said the PS5 surpassed 50 million units sold since its launch in November 2020. With momentum on its side, the company now believes the console is on track to eventually outsell the PlayStation 4.

Eric Lempel, senior vice president for global marketing, sales and business operations at Sony Interactive Entertainment, told the Financial Times that it took just one additional week – 161 versus 160 – for the PS5 to reach the 50 million units sold mark compared to its predecessor. The PS5 would have no doubt won the race had it not been for the pandemic and resulting chip shortage.

To date, the PlayStation 4 has sold just north of 117 million units worldwide since its 2013 launch, which is good for fifth place all time.

According to data from Ampere Analysis shared by the Financial Times, the PS5 outsold Microsoft's Xbox Series by nearly three to one in 2023. Per their data, PS5 sales grew around 65 percent this year to 22.5 million units while the Xbox dropped 15 percent to 7.6 million. Nintendo saw demand for its Switch fall by 18 percent to 16.4 million, which is still impressive given its age.

As it stands today, the Switch is the third best-selling game system of all time with 132.46 million units sold. The PlayStation 5 at 50 million units sits just ahead of the Super Nintendo in the 15th position. The beloved PS2 resides at the top of the list with more than 155 million consoles sold.

Microsoft may be down but they certainly aren't out. Xbox is a huge brand and with Microsoft having just wrapped up its colossal Activision Blizzard acquisition, they are still very much a major player. Hit franchises like Call of Duty, Candy Crush Saga, and World of Warcraft are now on their books, and that has got the competition concerned.

Image credit: Charles Sims, Marcos Ferreira

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/101280-ps5-outsells-xbox-series-3-1-20203-surpassing.html

 

[m4a4]

PS5 outsells Xbox Series by 3-to-1 in 20203, surpassing 50 million units sold

Boy, they're still selling that far in the future??

 

[Beerfloat]

Boy, they're still selling that far in the future??

Retro gaming becomes a big thing in the beginning of the 203rd century.

 

[jonny888]

New Year's Resolution: "I will have my content peer-reviewed before posting"

 

[Lew Zealand]

But if you say the year, it's right on: Twenty twenty three.

Everyone's just reading it wrong.

 

[AccordXTC]

ChatGPT fail!

 

[yRaz]

I use to hate Shawn articles but now I look at them as kind of a journalistic parody.

 

[maxxcool7421]

New Year's Resolution: "I will have my content peer-reviewed before posting"

hahahaha ... but does chatgtp have a peer ... <ponders>

 

[yukka]

It’s quite mad really. Is the PS5 that much better? A few exclusives but the games on the storefront generally cost more than Xbox. Game pass has loads of titles. I don’t see a huge difference. Just a lead lost due to pushing the Kinect and screwing over the performance when the OG One released. That was enough. What a calamity that was.

 

[godrilla]

The Series X fell to $349 fyi, $100 cheaper than the cheapest PS5.

 

[texasrattler]

Sony is doing well, it always has. Things are changing tho. Like it or not. MS owning Activision will be a big win for them in years to come. Even Sony is worried about it all.

The real question does MS even care? Nope. They arent worried about what console sells more, they care about how much money they make in subscriptions. Which is a world they are leaps ahead of Sony.
Over the course of the next few years will tell the tale if things will change in the console market. Will MS start to dominate by the next console release which is expected by xmas '27. We will see.
No matter what tho, both consoles have pros n cons. Having CoD will help MS.

 

[holydiver]

PS5 has the better games. Nobody buys a console for it's shiny look or power (just look how old the Switch is now). People buy a console for GOOD GAMES.

 

[CrisisDog]

Damn, and here I am wasting time on my Xbox, with no PS5 in sight…

 

[Nobina]

You can have Xbox games on a PC.

You can't have PS games on a PC...for now.

 

[yukka]

You can have Xbox games on a PC.

You can't have PS games on a PC...for now.

Some PS games are available on PC now. The Last of Us Part 1, God of War, Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn. Xbox exclusives are Halo, Forza and Gears. Still.

I think the biggest reason for PlayStation dominance is that they had the cheaper and more powerful console (PS4 had more memory and more as £100 cheaper than the XB1 which forced you to have Kinect) at a time when people started getting serious about buying digital games. A big reason I will continue to buy the Xbox is because that’s where my digital games library is - that’s where my money has been heavily invested since 2014. A game like Starfield isn’t going to make Sony owners suddenly decide to buy the Xbox instead and rebuy all their games on it. MS still has serious ground to make up since they screwed the original XB1 launch.

 

[Nobina]

Some PS games are available on PC now. The Last of Us Part 1, God of War, Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn. Xbox exclusives are Halo, Forza and Gears. Still.

I think the biggest reason for PlayStation dominance is that they had the cheaper and more powerful console (PS4 had more memory and more as £100 cheaper than the XB1 which forced you to have Kinect) at a time when people started getting serious about buying digital games. A big reason I will continue to buy the Xbox is because that’s where my digital games library is - that’s where my money has been heavily invested since 2014. A game like Starfield isn’t going to make Sony owners suddenly decide to buy the Xbox instead and rebuy all their games on it. MS still has serious ground to make up since they screwed the original XB1 launch.

Some are not all. I still have a reason to buy a PS if I want to play DS remake, Bloodborne, Gran Turismo, new GoW and a few more games.

 

[lonetac]

I think the biggest reason for this is it simply makes no sense for a pc gamer to buy an xbox but it does a bit for a PS.

MS releases everything on PC, there is no xbox exclusive so it cuts a huge portion of their market share down. I havent turned my xbox on in years, especially as cross platform play has become such a norm now days. I used to have to play on xbox to play with my brothers who use an xbox but now I use my pc. Same games and cross platform. Even game pass is on pc.

Sony isnt really happy with their games based on their comments of spider man 2 not winning (and it didnt deserve it) goty. But it is a better experience imho. I own all 3, ps5, xbox and pc. I dont turn my consoles on anymore though as pc has it all.

 

[texasrattler]

You can have Xbox games on a PC.

You can't have PS games on a PC...for now.

That is changing. Even Sony will bring some of their games to PC. Its already happened.

MS is in the position where if they arent dominating in one area they will dominate in another. Its a problem Sony didnt have to deal with till now. MS is becoming bigger n bigger. They have the money n means. Sony doesnt have MS $ but even if they did, they arent just going out buying up a studio for $70 Billion. That wouldnt be good business for them. The reason it is for MS cause they are also trying to get into mobile which Sony isnt. Sony is or was happy with the way things are. MS owning Activision has changed that for them.

 

[lonetac]

That is changing. Even Sony will bring some of their games to PC. Its already happened.

MS is in the position where if they arent dominating in one area they will dominate in another. Its a problem Sony didnt have to deal with till now. MS is becoming bigger n bigger. They have the money n means. Sony doesnt have MS $ but even if they did, they arent just going out buying up a studio for $70 Billion. That wouldnt be good business for them. The reason it is for MS cause they are also trying to get into mobile which Sony isnt. Sony is or was happy with the way things are. MS owning Activision has changed that for them.

Oh yeah, 100%. Sony Now was the start of it and they are porting a lot of games to even steam. Soon PC players will be able to play everything on their pc except switch games. Nintendo is the only one holding out.

 

[gamerk2]

Sony is doing well, it always has. Things are changing tho. Like it or not. MS owning Activision will be a big win for them in years to come. Even Sony is worried about it all.

I fully expect the end result of MSFT purchasing Activision will be Sony purchasing EA, for no other reason then getting exclusive access to Battlefield.

We've seen most of the independent AA studios brought out over the past decade, now you are seeing the few remaining ones get eaten up. Welcome back to Balkanization of gaming, because the age of cross-platform releases is coming to an end.

 

[yukka]

Oh yeah, 100%. Sony Now was the start of it and they are porting a lot of games to even steam. Soon PC players will be able to play everything on their pc except switch games. Nintendo is the only one holding out.

GeForce Now seems decent but I get too much latency playing xcloud.

 

[MasterMace]

Microsoft too busy buying up the competition and closing studios.

 

[scavengerspc]

So then the PS5 is MUCH better than the Series S\X. Right?

Every couple of years I have to point out here that the ONLY American thing that sells well
overseas are bluejeans. And now, Apple and Google based products of course, for obvious reasons.

The Playstation also is from Japan, and they have great pride in their companies, and Country as a whole so that entire country is locked in, regardless of Sony's business and anti consumer practices.
The XBOX gets no such support from the snotties here. In fact, it sometimes seems the only thing they don't hate about America is living here. That's probably the biggest tragedy.

 

[Tams80]

That is changing. Even Sony will bring some of their games to PC. Its already happened.

MS is in the position where if they arent dominating in one area they will dominate in another. Its a problem Sony didnt have to deal with till now. MS is becoming bigger n bigger. They have the money n means. Sony doesnt have MS $ but even if they did, they arent just going out buying up a studio for $70 Billion. That wouldnt be good business for them. The reason it is for MS cause they are also trying to get into mobile which Sony isnt. Sony is or was happy with the way things are. MS owning Activision has changed that for them.

Sony have brought some of their games to PC a few years after release Hence keeping the appeal of getting a PS.

And the PC ports... haven't sold particularly well, even for releases delayed a few years.

 

[return]

I need to finish some ps4 game at some point.