PS5 Shipments Were Almost 5x Superior Than Xbox’s in Q1 According to Analyst

While Microsoft stopped reporting console sales figures after the PlayStation 4 started outselling the Xbox One, it’s no secret that Xbox Series X|S sales have been on a downward spiral for quite some time. Microsoft said in its Q1 2024 earnings report that Xbox hardware revenues were down 31 percent year-over-year, with CFO Amy Hood adding during the earnings call that hardware revenue will continue its decline in the near future.

In comparison, Sony announced earlier this week that it sold 4.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles in the most recent quarter and 20.8 million units in its last fiscal year, missing its 21 million units target. The company also sold 59.3 million PS5 units so far, which is quite remarkable considering the launch of this console generation was plagued by chip shortages.

According to Daniel Ahmad, Director of Research & Insights at Niko Partners, the sales gap between the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles has widened over the past year. In a thread analyzing Sony’s recent earnings reports, the analyst said that “the PlayStation 5 shipped 4.5 million units in the last quarter. According to our estimates, this is almost 5x more than the Xbox Series X|S shipped in the same period.”

5. The PlayStation 5 shipped 4.5 million units in the last quarter. According to our estimates, this is almost 5x more than the Xbox Series X|S shipped in the same period.

(This is a bonus one for the console warriors + my rent is due)

— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) May 14, 2024

Ahmad added that “the actual lifetime to date ratio is closer to 2:1,” but with Microsoft expecting Xbox console sales to continue to decrease in the future, it looks like the gap can only continue to widen. Anyway, if this estimation is accurate, that means Microsoft only shipped 900,000 Xbox Series X|S consoles in the last quarter. For the sake of completeness, Nintendo Switch sales reached 1,960,000 units in the last quarter.

Even though Microsoft started de-emphasizing hardware sales in the previous console generation, this is still not a good look for the Xbox brand. Microsoft said that it already has a next-generation Xbox roadmap and promised to deliver “the largest technical leap we’ve ever seen in a hardware generation.” However, the power advantage didn’t make a difference in this generation as well as the previous one, and Microsoft now releasing all of its games on PC plus some of them on rival consoles means that you can now play all Xbox games without having to purchase an Xbox.