Xbox Series X|S Console Sales Down Almost 30% In The US Compared To 2023

And that’s the frightening console sales data that makes me worry for a next generation Xbox.
Simple statistics and statement from me.

Seems like COD in GP did not move the needle. Kinda wanna wait and see what happens in december due to Indiana and overall Xmass spending/console gifts and such.
If december is down too then well, "this is an xbox" and "you dont need an xbox"campagin clearly worked. Good job marketing team at MS lol

@OldGamer999 now its 90% all games coming to PS day 1 in 2-3 years closer to next gen launch. If they dont do a traditional console then a 100%, eveyrthing on PS.

I pulled the trigger and bought the PS5 Pro. Still plan to spend more time with xbox due to GP and prob buy next box just for GP but will depend on the games/pricing.

I dont think xbox is doomed or smth, but for console main factor is GP. Maybe also the ecosystem factor down the road but that only if you have several devices.

But do they count phones, tablets and pc’s as xbox-es, since everything’s an xbox?

Microsoft spent years telling people not to buy an Xbox. So they aren't buying them.

Now they advertise smart watches as an Xbox.....and people still aren't buying an Xbox.

This is a SCARY situation, very much reminds me of Microsoft and the Windows Phone.

Xbox hardware is cooked fam. Not saying they wont make more but it’s not going to be properly supported to maximize it.

@TheGameThrifter good thing there are many devices these days. Switch 2 coming soon and if you want more power you can look at PC or PS5 PRO.

xbox will be probably a budget frinedly game pass machine. I dont think next box will be super powerfull, I think it will be just powerfull enough to run newer games but focused to keep the price under 599 or so.

Gee, I wonder why hardware sales are down?🤔🤔🤔

@Millionski
It’s all cool at the minute with series x and I have GPU until March 2027.
And it’s cool games going to other consoles and devices.
Just give us a very positive sign Microsoft for next generation Xbox home console, as simple as that really.

In a nutshell I think you have to answer 2 questions when choosing xbox: are you interested in MS games and do you want to access them via game pass. Both answers should be yes.

If you are not interested in MS games, then why xbox at all? Selling feature of GP is MS games day one. If you dont care about that => PS plus extra will do just fine. And if you want to play MS games but dont mind buying them - you will be able to do it on PS.

There is also an ecosystem facror but today its very weak. Maybe in 10 years or so.

@OldGamer999 Same. Mine GPU is due jan 2027. I am not buying stalker, indy, etc on a PRO even that I have it - I will just play with GPU.

But I was able to stack GPU right before all the price increases, and core conversion was working. If they cut all these schemes and you have to pay lets say $25/m - that would be a hard sell. Since GP growth is also flat, I see them just simply pushing the prices further.

Honestly owning 2 consoles next gen comes down to a math question of how much value you extract from GP and overall if you just want to bother with it or not. I plan assuming no exclusivity in any form for xbox for next gen.

If next xbox is uninspiring lazy series X pro kinda device that they do just because "they have to" - do I want it then? just from consumer perspective.

Is anyone really surprised by this? As Microsoft torpedo the Xbox brand by removing all its exclusives then there’s no logical reason to pick up a Series X|S over a PS5.

Not surprising for anyone who has been paying attention. Most of my games don't have "Play Anywhere" features (or even a PC equivalent on the Xbox app) so I'm very worried that they seem to be doing everything to become a publisher. Most of my games are going to be trapped on the console.

Oh don’t worry, I’m sure if this trend continues then Microsoft will continue to make Xbox consoles for all eternity because they love throwing away money you see.

People often bring up Surface tablets as evidence that Microsoft will always produce Xbox consoles going forward no matter how few units they sell. Thing is though the difference in R&D cost for these two product categories is huge. Tablets use off the shelf components. Consoles need bespoke SOCs, bespoke motherboards, bespoke cooling solutions, controller/headset accessories, and a highly customised OS and dedicated support for developers. Consoles are expensive to produce and maintain.

The fear for many of us has always been the death spiral. Consoles selling fewer units, third parties slowly lose interest in the platform, customers slowly drift to the competition, Microsoft themselves lose interest in promoting Xbox, cycle repeats over and over - until a critical threshold is reached and the inevitable conclusion manifests. The bean counters at Microsoft decide that they can save more money by discontinuing console entirely.

I don’t want this to happen, but we gotta face facts that a 30% decline in sales each year is unsustainable. Something needs to change to ensure Xbox consoles remain viable long term. Wake up Microsoft, please. Before it’s too late.

Interesting time indeed. I can't see Microsoft trying to compete directly with Nintendo or Sony in the standard priced console space next gen. A handheld with full Steam and Xbox app support plus a high end console perhaps although the latter is debatable with mid range PCs better value than ever. It's a guessing game until the big reveal. It does seem like Xbox is going the way Sega consoles eventually did but none of us truly know what the future of gaming looks like. Speculation keeps us engaged nonetheless.

Edit: crazy idea but maybe Microsoft enter the PC hardware market with a 'modular/upgradable Xbox'. The PC scene is expanding all the time and advances in technology means you can potentially have one sitting below your TV in the living room without taking up too much space.

Final sales will probably be broadly comparable to Xbone. There's the GTA6 push to happen yet, and naturally they probably still sell between 5-7m units per year anyway.

There's something at play behind the scenes that is making 3rd party Devs start to have a relationship with MS again so I'm not worried about the death of series consoles or lack of support. The price of the ps5 pro worries me, and the costs of AAA game development worries me, but not a random 30% drop in hardware sales in November. That was expected given the lack of hardware promotions around black Friday.

Just my opinion, but with the way that the Xbox is being marketed into the ground right now, with the PlayStation 5 increasing its market share and the news that everything moving forward from Microsoft is likely to come out of PlayStation consoles, I would think that a new console from Microsoft would be a huge waste of time and money. The more people that buy a PS5, they are going to be invested in a new eco system that would make going back to Microsoft a waste of their money, especially when all the franchises that people care about will be available elsewhere. GamePass in a few years from now could exist with only Microsoft titles, and there are a lot of them, and that could exist on rival consoles simply because of that reason. If Microsoft don’t pay for other companies to put their games on the service than it would not effect Sony having Gamepass on the console in the same way as there is a Netflix app or whatever. It’s just the beginning of the end of Xbox being a thing, but Microsoft will not be effected at all thanks to the games they now have under their umbrella!

I will say one thing as a little positive as I do my own very little UK analysis.
The Xbox series x has surprised me December sales in the UK near to me.
They have sold a good few more than normal which I didn’t really expect being honest.

Maybe because they said everything is an Xbox people bought blenders and fax machines thinking they could play gears of forza on them

I wish @Banjo- was here. He always knows something positive to say. Maybe it's the holiday blues but all the Xbox news lately just seems to get worse and worse.

Xbox is just basically a gamepass machine that's the value!

When everything is an Xbox, what’s the point of an actual Xbox?

Pure stupidity, brand suicide. This is going to continue.

@Utena-mobile It really does, and the most frustrating part is that we know the why's. It's really, really clear to see how it went wrong multiple times in the span of 12 months.

@Bionic-Spencer Unrelated but BC 09 was amazing. So underrated. Great name. I've got the physical OST on my shelf.

@Cakefish the reason I am not 100% doom & gloom with xbox consoles (only 50% now lol) is that I believe the threshold you mentioned can actually be pretty low. We dont know for a fact but decision to do next gen is usually around mid current gen and they announced it last year. It means even 30M consoles is enough to keep going. They also kind of stuck with most GP subs being on console too.

another counter-argument for lack of 3rd party support - Square Enix, Kodjima and ex-timed PS excluvies - all reaching xbox. Stray, kena, final fantasy, sifu, Silent hill 2, Death stranding 1 (and 2 at some point) - all these are/will be on xbox despite the low console sales. In the end its about porting costs and potential revenue which seems like working if companies decided to release on xbox.

My projection is that xbox will be there for 1 or even 2 more gens but it will be pretty boring box without cool features the sole purpose of which is Game pass. Then they would go full cloud/pc. I dont think they will stop consoles before we are all ready to cloud.

what is more concerning is shift to no exclusivity. 1 thing is some red lines, timed exclusivity up to 1 year or more and another thing everything is day 1 on PS/Nin. Based on all recent reports I am sure it will be the latter.

Definitely the xbox console share will be shrinking, but will they exit before all the cloud tech is there - good question. I suspect it will be low but enough to keep doing. Again unless they lanuch GP on PS/N, that could make xbox useless

@OldGamer999 there was good deal for Series X in US/Canada and no deal for PS...until PS deal appeared and it was better lol.

I think they messed up the series s 1tb and digital white SX pricing. should be 299 and 399 at max BEFORE any deals.

@Millionski
Yep they definitely did in the UK.
Series x discless 1tb £429.99 rrp
PS5 discless 1tb £389.99 rrp
In the UK, must be honest that pricing has really really baffled me.

Well hell why buy one when all you gotta do is wait with a playstation lol

@Elbow Yeah, the ABK deal really was a Faustian bargain.
( T _ T )

@Utena-mobile The whole thing feels like the monkey's paw curl. Xbox gets the most developers they've ever had, gearing up for an unspeakable amount of things on the way, annnnnnnnd they just spiked their console out the window onto the freeway.

@Bionic-Spencer Completely agree and was telling it a while ago - if they could "trade" their console share for GP on PS/Nin they would do it in a heartbeat. Ubi+ and EA play exist on PS/nin and they are no problems. Just cut all the 3rd party stuff and keep only MS games. Price it down little bit as people would still be required to pay for ps plus for online access, so maybe like 10-15 bucks or so. Put it on paper so they dont do shady practice like hiding the GP from PSN or something and take your W as GP will be easily double-tripple the number of subs.

However, reportedly sony and nintendo declined but that will hint on MS then pushing more their own platforms but they still dont do it. I dunno honestly whats the plan. I kinda see GP also making changes down the road as its still mostly on console base that is shrinking. THe bare minimum is another price hike