Xbox Series X|S Sales Estimates Show Consoles Lagging Far Behind Last-Gen

To be fair , this series X is the first Xbox that I didn’t have to replace multiple times because of an RROD , broken discdrive , extreme loudness of the fan or another broken part.

Which is totally fine because the console will always be there as a piece of the pie, but there is so many more customers to find via PC and cloud that locking yourself into a plastic box just seems silly at this point. Keep the console around, let it bring in new customers, but the bulk of the new consumers will be found elsewhere and that's just facts.

I know it isn't reflected in sales. But the Series X is the best console Microsoft has put out. I'm happier with it than any other I've owned (I've owned a 360, One S, and Series X).

Xbox will be 3rd place in this generation for sure. Will they pick up next gen, or even stick around? I guess that remains to be seen.

Though given their current push to emphasise their non-console offerings I think they've decided that it could be more profitable to focus elsewhere than try all out to sell consoles (which often don't have a good margin).

30 million units sold still sounds quite big to me!

People twisting it as a positive is wild to say that least.

@TheEstablishment is there any real verified data showing users are actually buying into the ecosystem through these alternative avenues? I understand in vacuum it's a marketing and business strategy that sounds reasonable, but are there any numbers to support that current gen is not just an absolute failure it seems to be through "classic" metrics?

It is surely a matter of time before bespoke hardware no longer makes sense.

The development and manufacturing cost won't be worth the effort if sales numbers don't pick up at some stage and with MS' current messaging there seems no reason to think it will.

Even the best console is dead in the water if it has no games (I mean exclusives). MS put themselves in this position, but they don’t seem to mind. I’ve been an xCloud only Xbox user for almost a year now and I don’t see it changing.

Isn’t it even better for Xbox? 750k series sold, and 4m PlayStations which is also a Xbox.

So all good!

Can't imagine MS be surprised or even disappointed by these numbers, given the recent advertising campaign essentially stating that a console isn't needed anymore.

Best and great console the series x
But from a console stand point the owners let it down and left it die.

And the below says it all that it’s really embarrassing sales wise.

Europe November 2024:
PS5 2.1 million
Switch 537 thousand
Xbox 190 thousand
Worldwide November 2024:
PS5 4.1 million
Switch 1.7 million
Xbox 737 thousand

First time in probably a decade an Xbox console has sold under 1 million in the Black Friday month of November.

32 million sounds decent enough viewed in isolation, but the overwhelmingly vast majority of these sales were done before Microsoft announced they were going fully multi-platform. And growth seems to have slowed to a crawl now. So the question is what will the sales for the next console look like? That’s where I worry. I don’t want to invest in a console that shares the Wii U fate, but I also need my digital library to not be stranded on XSX for all eternity.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner
No it’s not better for Xbox as there are not many games on PS5 or Switch 2 yet from Xbox.

Also there must come a break point where it is not worth the design and manufacturing development of a new next generation Xbox console cost wise.

Because already now the next Xbox console will struggle to get to about 20 million, which will also decline GPU console subscriptions as well.
And at that point Xbox console and GPU with day one releases dies as well.

@Sol76 That would be the XB1 for me. I've had at least two of every PS/Xbox console I've owned since the PS1.

The sales decline is not surprising, considering a full year of port rumors, made a concrete possibility by the business update early in the year. That was preceded by no exclusives at the Series launch, late Halo, delayed Halo content, and two Bethesda games being excluded from their owners console for a year (eventually turning up unoptimized).

Everything is an Xbox though so in real terms they’ve got billions of potential Xbox’s out there. 🤣 or something.

@Cikajovazmaj I don't think there has been any data outside of really vague statements like "Biggest single day increase of gamepass users" when COD launched but in reality unless those subs are sticking around, which they are probably not long term, then its kinda meaningless. The number has been sitting pretty stagnent for a long time now (around 33m) and had it seen any real growth they would be shouting out numbers from the rooftops to show platform growth.

Even if they are getting some users via other devices, which they will be. Its certainly not making up the difference for the 5:1 ratio on console sales in November.

As many others I think they jumped on the Streaming idea 10 years to early and its probably going to hurt them into the next generation also.

If everything’s an Xbox shouldn’t they be factoring phones, tablets, Maytag washing machines and slow cooker crockpots into the sales figures too?

Even though the xbox console has sold less. There are many more gamers on Game Pass (mobile,tablet,pc,laptop), than gamers on playstation plus .

I mean, the sales are bad, there's no other read about it. But i also wonder, is MS really losing in this one? Look at PS5 sales, behind PS4 by a few millions (might or might not catch, doesn't really matter) but with much less competition overall so they are totally moving to PC (or switch, but i kinda feel that someone that had a XB1 would probably own a switch but not as their only console) which is a territory MS has much more power even if they have to share it with Valve.

This generation is just sad and I can confidently say now way worse than Xbox One, because back then we still had the promise of better things to come, still had some exclusives (tho very far in between) and less third-party games skip Xbox, whereas nowadays the talk with every Xbox game is when will it come to PS5, many developers choose to skip Xbox, Microsoft lies to their core audience on a weekly basis and we are left wondering if there’s going to be an Xbox at all next gen…

@nisrecon this is factually incorrect. Last count showed 47.4 million subscribers on plus. Gamepass was around 34 million.

Edit: which included those bumped from Gold to gamepass.

It makes no sense, XBox doesn't try to correct this. Their sales could have increased like Nintendo from the Wii U. But if you don't have faith in your console audience, even though you sold over 80 MIL consoles at one point (XBox 360) This happens.

There isn't really much they can do to turn this around at this point, this gen or next. Those ps owners have spent the best part of two generations building digital libraries. MS can build the greatest console the world has seen but getting people to walk away from a pile of games they own to start again is a mammoth task.

Especially when the PS6 is guaranteed to tell them they can still access them if/when they choose to pick a new console.

Clearly marketing campaign is working. Good job MS (i guess)!
“You dont need an xbox” and “everything is an xbox” - well people listened.

Next xbox apparently confirmed but I would not bet on the one after that.

I've played on Xbox since 2011, still play my Series S every day as my primary platform. But i would never tell anyone to buy an Xbox. Unless you're already invested in the platform there is literally no reason to buy an Xbox over a PlayStation or a Switch.

Exclusives aren't good or go to PlayStation, games take years to come to Xbox or usually just skip it entirely, external SSD's are still too expensive and you can't get more than 2tb, and gamepass is a rip off, just to name a few.

@Balaam_

Thank you for this comment. You literally just made my day!

Not surprised, day they announced Indiana Jones was going PS is the day I decided to get my PS5. No reason to stay if all your best games are going to the competition. Now buying all games on PS and have the Xbox around for the my stacked game pass sub, won’t be renewing. Luckily never bought too many games for Xbox.

I think series s caused a lot of this lack of upgrade to xs. I know people who have stuck with series s still.hope to see anther Xbox and hop it sell so the push to digital cloud as you Xbox doesn’t become the only option

Sales might also be down because they keep making most of the games backward compatible all the way back to XBox One (2013). I still meet people online playing on their day one XBox One's, why buy a new console. Also a side complaint those are the same people slowing down all the load-in times for online games because we all need to wait for them

I see the usual trolls are here talking sh*t. 😂

MS knows it's cannibalizing it's hardware in favor of software. Considering they lose money on console sales, they are eager to push traditional consoles into a niche market.

The gaming world is evolving away from consoles as the center of gaming. And yet, MS has already committed to the next gen console hardware (and hopefully a portable) while continuing to expand access to GP and your game library. It's a win win for gamers and MS making bank.

Inevitable once they put their games on playstation, it was obvious sales would fall off a cliff. The next step is 3rd parties pulling support due to a lack of users, which we are already seeing.

Xbox did the right thing on supporting Xbox One longer for users but that also hurts their sales. Also their confusing naming scheme hasn't done them any favors.

I love the Xbox Hardware but honestly unless you care about BWC and free Cloud backups, there's no reason to get an Xbox anymore. 😢

Not surprised ...if I didn't own one I would see very little point in getting one now ...if I had a ps5..I would think well all Thier games are coming to my console eventually...and if I owed no console...it would be i will get a ps5 as they get all the games...if I get an Xbox I will miss out on the ps exclusives

Exclusives matter.

I've owned every xbox console, but i honestly can't think of a reason to buy the next one. I say this all the time....but we didn't ask for any of this. Didn't ask for Xbox games on other platforms, or $70 billion acquisitions, we didn't even ask for Game Pass. We wanted Microsoft to make good, compelling games that come out in good shape and on time. That's it. And they haven't come close to delivering that. They're now spending who knows how much on their next machine, a machine that MIGHT sell 20 million units because who has faith in xbox at this point? If they care about the brand at all (they don't) it's a good idea to dump Phil and change direction...

No games, no marketing, then when they do have games and start marketing it’s to tell you that you don’t need to buy an Xbox.

What outcome did MS expect?

Marketing is hit and miss, games that appeal to audiences is odd, I don't like Sony's comfort but works approach and miss the PS1-3/PSP/Vita variety while Xbox has the variety not all of them land. Also to me it's a case of just Xbox One gen game design that also doesn't appeal to me compared to PS3/360 and older era mechanics, level design, tone and more they just appeal more besides their age.

30 mill was N64, Xbox One 50 mill is around Super Nintendo I think. While PS5 is around 3DS, NES or Xbox One.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1101872/unit-sales-video-game-consoles/, checked a wikipedia that had others but seems off as well whenever last updated and from where. Whatever VGChartz or others say.

I think 30 mill is fine. Anything 20 mill and under is still who knows it's future anymore. But 30+ is still a fair userbase I think. If it gets to 40 or 50 again then I think it's fine. Whoever has or hasn't upgraded or is new as well.

What the console offers is fine but giving reason to own it when apps/games can be found elsewhere to play regardless of on PC or PS5 I mean just they can use any service or play any non-Microsoft games if they really don't care to regardless of platform, it's dedicated fans that own an Xbox Series or those going yeah why not give an Xbox a go for their Series S or Series X purchases but that's still small numbers. It's something, but it's still small.

Xbox One besides the steps it was fair for 50 mill, this gen, I mean.... I haven't played a single Series gen game at all. Gear Tactics is fair but I mean I can play any other tactics game and am. Age of Empires, Flight Sim 2019 and more are cool, not my thing but still good.

Some fair other stuff. They have the games but not all are ready yet and not all are exciting either.

Xbox One can be cheap and still usable for many things of apps, games and so on. Not run the best but still usable if media apps even or cheap games. Besides Gamepass on there still it's not Series consoles limited like other features are for fair reason with the hardware increase.

Besides hardware/software features (I can't use Quick Resume as I don't buy digital, but think it's cool), otherwise other than gyro in the controller which I can also get elsewhere I really don't care if the games aren't appealing, the OS dashboard gets worse and worse or I really don't see many reasons for the console other than to 'be there'. For people that want them sure but I haven't had a reason to upgrade. Game wise it's fine but OS wise I've experienced the same OS still as every Series owner has but on old gen.

The marketing or directions need to be better.

I still use my Xbox One X/have a VCR Xbox One on hand for offline use. I have no issues using it, the start up is slow but everything loads in and it's fine. I don't buy a lot of Xbox One physical either but do 360 back compat stuff for sure. Or non back compat and 360 only usable but that's fine by me with my 360 still around.

I jumped from PS3 to Series S, and the gaming value has been incredible for me (multiple years of cheap Gold tier to GPU conversion, rewards points for more free GPU), however even for a big Xbox fan like me it is clear Xbox console war is lost.

It is not just that Series X|S is being outsold heavily by PS5, but the Series S outsells Series X, which means even smaller share of true current gen console sales. Baldur's Gate 3 couldn't launch on Series S without dropping features. Black Myth Wukong, developer already said Series S is holding back xbox launch. So true AAA games can't easily launch on Xbox (optimization++ required) + all games going to be on PS5, so it's clear Xbox consoles sales will continue to dwindle... lack of sales, lack of content, lack of sales, lack of content... vicious circle.

My guess Microsoft is going to go back to its software roots, not caring whos hardware they sell games on...

@Kloppo You're likely going to be very disappointed

@FarmDog08 How can it be their best console when it has significantly less good games and has sold far worse?

@bankenrepublik 100% based on my satisfaction and enjoyment, which I would say is what gaming is all about. I don't need to play everything under the sun to enjoy this hobby.

@FarmDog08 But you surely can't deny the 360 had a much better game catalogue right? Especially exclusives

@bankenrepublik 360 was great, it was my first Xbox, but quick resume, backwards compatibility, cloud, Game Pass, Series X is my favorite. I've been a gamer since the mid 80s. I enjoy the time I get now and the games I am playing today. Just one man's opinion.

"Xbox Live" is still the best console network. People will argue. But for the console space, Xbox rules with their online service. Nintendo and Sony pale in comparison. This is the main draw for me. PS Network has gotten better for sure. But not nearly as polished or consumer friendly as "Live". And Nintendos offering for an "online" network is down right silly.

Now if we could get MS to get serious on their first party front, then we could talk about more console sales and game sales for Xbox.

@Faruko
Exactly. PS5, if we are apples to apples and in the tank compared to the PS4. I must have missed those acticles.

It's kind of surprising because the xbox series X out perform the PS5 but not by much. I think the biggest factor for xbox is it's quick resume feature to be able to load a game within seconds is amazing. It's hard to compete with Sony and switch as they have always had a bigger fan base. If Microsoft wants to win the console wars, they have to really out perform ps5 by having way better specs than ps5 and they need better game exclusives.