Throughout the year, we've been tracking multiple sales reports for Xbox Series X and S consoles, and unfortunately - the news hasn't often been very good for Microsoft. Well, a new look at the entirety of 2024 for European hardware sales paints a pretty poor picture for all three major platforms; Xbox in particular.
Outlet VGC has shared the latest 2024 gaming sales data for mainland Europe, and one segment fully focuses on hardware. In comparison to 2023, PS5 console sales were down 20%, Switch sales were down 15%, and Xbox Series X|S sales were down a whopping 48% when stacking 2024 up against the year prior.
There are some caveats to be added to this data, however. First off, these sales figures only cover the regions of Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland - the UK is excluded, as is the US of course. VGC also adds that "a lack of major releases" hurt the console sales business across the board in 2024.
Despite what looks like pretty grim reading, there are reasons to be a bit more optimistic about 2025. If GTA 6 comes out this year and remains a current-gen only title, it's basically guaranteed to shift console units, which should benefit Xbox and PlayStation. When it comes to Nintendo, they're set to deliver an entirely new console this year - so we're expecting more positive hardware news on the whole in 2025.