PS5 Shipped 5X Number Of Xbox Series X|S Consoles In Past 3 Months, Analyst Says

Sony's PlayStation 5 console is heavily outselling Microsoft's Xbox Series X|S, according to Daniel Ahmad, director of research at Niko Partners, a firm that aggregates data on video game and console sales.

4.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles were shipped in the first quarter of 2024, with Sony selling roughly five times as many units as Microsoft's Xbox Series X|S console in the first three months of this year, Ahmad said. Sony's console has sold a total of 59.2 million units in total since its launch in November 2020.

While this is good news for Sony, Ahmad also pointed out that the PS5 still hasn't quite caught up to its predecessor. The PS4 sold 60 million units in the same timeframe after its launch, and Sony does not expect that the PS5 will outsell the PS4 over the next year when compared to the same point in the PS4's life cycle.

The report also revealed that digital sales are up in a big way. In 2023, the digital ratio for game software sales on PlayStation consoles reached 70%--a massive increase from 2015, when digital sales accounted for only 19% of game purchases. According to Ahmad, Sony partially attributes the uptick in digital sales to the COVID-19 pandemic, but notes that players were already beginning to lean toward digital purchases over physical purchases in the months prior to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Xbox's hardware revenue was down 31% during the January - March 2024 window, according to the company's recent third-quarter earnings report. Xbox's parent company, Microsoft, and the CEO of its gaming division Phil Spencer have recently come under fire for a number of reasons, including mass layoffs at Xbox, changes to Xbox game exclusivity, and most recently, the closure of of several studios, including Tango Gameworks, developer of several popular games like The Evil Within series, Ghostwire: Tokyo, and 2023's rhythm-based hit, Hi-Fi Rush.