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Xbox just had its best March sales performance in 11 years, bringing in more mon...

 2 years ago
source link: https://www.theverge.com/2022/4/25/23040875/xbox-series-x-s-sales-nintendo-switch-ps5-npd-march-2022
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Xbox just had its best March sales performance in 11 years, bringing in more money than Switch or PS5

Nintendo is still No. 1 in consoles sold

By Richard Lawler@rjcc Apr 25, 2022, 10:23am EDT

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Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

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If you're trying to buy a new video game console in 2022, then you probably already know that they’re still in short supply. While the Nintendo Switch (including the new Switch OLED model) and Xbox Series S are generally available throughout the US, it’s a little harder to get something more powerful, and NPD data released today reflects that.

Between the Xbox Series S remaining in stock consistently and the increasingly obtainable Xbox Series X (try opening up your Best Buy app in the morning or checking local stores to find one — many have had them in stock lately), Microsoft’s consoles led in terms of hardware dollars for March 2022 and the entire first quarter in the US.

Nintendo’s convertible game system still sold the most units for both time periods, but higher Xbox prices (when the Series S isn’t discounted) and PlayStation 5 supply that still can’t meet demand combined to snap a streak of either the Switch or PS5 topping all of the lists over the last year or so.

According to the stats released by NPD video game analyst Mat Piscatella, industry hardware sales were $515 million in March (down 24 percent from 2021) and $1.2 billion in Q1 (down 15 percent from 2021). Despite that, this is the best March result for Xbox hardware sales in a long time with the most total units sold since March 2011 and the most revenue for March since 2014, just a few months after the Xbox One was released.

Just like February, Elden Ring was March’s top-selling game, followed by Gran Turismo 7.

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There are 43 comments.

I’m sure it helps that both models are now regularly available to buy. If Sony doesn’t figure out their supply chain issues soon, it’s going to really hurt them in the long run.

100% agree. I think it’s obvious that the PS5 numbers would be a lot higher if the system was actually available! This whole generation of consoles may end up being defined by "what could have been" if the world had not been impacted by the worldwide supply chain issues.

Series X is still not what I would call "regularly" available. Still can’t just pull up the target app and buy one for example. But supply is improving. The truth is the extra Series S sales are making all the difference.

Series X has been available at Walmart for long stretches – usually a few days at a time before becoming unavailable again. I was able to pick one up, and then another at a later date for a friend no problem. It’s still limited, for sure. But the PS5 hasn’t even reached that level of availability yet.

I don’t like that the Series S is padding their "next-gen" market share. It shouldn’t count!

Why? The Series S is just a current-gen console as the Series X and the PS5!

I’m glad it’s there and making gaming more accessible for everyone!

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 1:11 PM

It’s guaranteed to play all of the games in this generation, so it counts.

This may in the long run hold back the current Xbox generation, since it’ll be the lowest common denominator for developers on the platform, but it seems like these days all you have to do is come up with a set of lower fidelity settings that will run on less powerful hardware. Most games this generation for both consoles so far are also on the previous generation base consoles as well, so we certainly haven’t hit a wall yet.

Unless there’s a paradigm shift in console hardware architecture, I don’t see this trend changing.

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 1:17 PM

It doesn’t have to be the lowest common denominator with game streaming, though not everyone will have access to or want that.

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 2:19 PM

Lol, the Series S is a next-gen console. It has Quick Resume, Ray-Tracing, and upscaled 4K. It does count. It just opts for a lower resolution while still maintaining the other core "next-gen" features.

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 1:29 PM

Be careful with Walmart for both the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles; they look "available", but Walmart is actually letting third-party sellers sell on their site through the regular listing with a notable mark-up.

Thus they aren’t the best to check for availability.

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 3:02 PM

Speaking of…looks like it just became available at Best Buy. No website loading problems or disappearing stock within seconds.

From what I’ve heard, Series X consoles have been available in store pretty consistently for the last month.

Wow, I’m mad I believed this comment, made me waste a couple of mins looking for a Series X anywhere online or in-store (3rd Largest Metro in America), and find nothing available at retail price.

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 1:55 PM

As I wrote in the article, just try searching in the Best Buy app when stores around you open. This has been working for people for the last month or so, whether or not you might see one at any random time, I don’t think we’re there yet.

This tracker shows some in stock on the East Coast, so it really depends. https://gpudrops.com/bestbuy

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 2:19 PM

I’m in a smaller market but two of my local Best Buy’s have it available for pickup today.

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 3:19 PM

Series X is not anymore available than PS5. Trying buying a Series X on Amazon, Best Buy, Target. Supply shortages affect everyone, Xbox is simply outselling PS5.

I was in Best Buy on Saturday looking at a new controller. The rep came up to a guy standing in front of the consoles and said they have had series x in stock since Wednesday.
I just looked at the bb app and two of my local stores have them available for pickup today.

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 3:22 PM

This was my Best Buy a few weeks ago:

Now let’s hope that between scalpers unsold inventory and new cards, the market becomes somewhat flooded, and prices drop across the board!

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 1:12 PM

Yeah, this is still pretty clearly a race of "who can supply/manufacture better", rather than a pure measurement of demand, since they are still pretty constrained (but it seems like MS is less so).

I don’t have a source on hand, but I recall reading that Sony was having yield issues with their chips based on requirements (some even finding their way into other less restrictive products). If this is true, it’s possible there’s nothing they can ‘figure out’ at the moment beyond waiting for the silicone pipeline to level out because throttling PS5s to sell more hardware is potentially much more damaging to their brand image than a constantly sold out product.

Granted, this assumes Sony isn’t suffering tremendously in a fiscal sense, but I don’t think that’s the case in this instance.

I think this is the advantage of going with the S/X split strategy, but the Series S has some serious cuts to it that will really start to bite in a few years. I mean, if even Microsoft made playing Halo on Series S a second class experience, there’s little to no hope for that console when compared to the PS5 and Series X.

We had a XBox S for a few weeks until we were able to purchase an X. For most of our family, playing Halo Infinite on the S was not much different than the X. I was very impressed with the S. Only really hardcore gamers with the best TVs would notice. The average casual gamer who wants to use GamePass like Netflix would be very happy with it. I almost regret upgrading.

I sell a ton of Series S consoles with one year of Gold ( with instructions for the customer to upgrade to GamePass Ultimate for 1$ ).

Right now isn’t really indicative of what the situation may be going forward. Not that I’m saying it’ll be horrible or something, and it’s amazing for the price, but we’re still fully in the stage where all big releases are still coming out for last-gen consoles as well as the Series X/S. Halo Infinite for example wasn’t really made with the Series X in mind, most of the intended console players at launch were going to be on last-gen hardware between the Base One and One X. Also 4K TVs are becoming pretty standard.

I would hope that first party games continue doing well with optimized settings for the Series S throughout the generation, and it’s obviously a pretty fantastic value option. But particularly with cross-platform games, once we start seeing AAA titles starting to commit more fully to PS5-tier development, we may start seeing pretty significant concessions in fidelity and 60 fps options disappear entirely for the Series S.

False. If anything, committing to current-gen consoles will only benefit the Series S output as more resources can be focused there rather on last-gen consoles.

Leveraging all the latest tools for the Series S|X consoles means games will be even more optimized for the Series S.

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 1:16 PM

I have a Series X in the living room and a Series S in the office and I’ve been consistently surprised by how similar the experience is between the two. If you bought a high-end TV just to play 4K HDR games (like I did) then of course the extra $200 is a no-brainer, but if you shopped around for the best bargain on an entry-level TV at the screen size you wanted then the Series S is very likely all you need to play the exact same game library.

This cannot be further than true. If you are ok playing in 1080p, Series S is perfect console for majority, and considering how well Switch has been selling. Keep in mind Series S is still significantly more powerful than Switch.

A large number of people are still playing on PlayStation 4 and XBox One. Not to mention all those pesky Switch players.

No hope for whát? People buying and using a Series S don’t cáre about the 4K HDR 120fps raytracing magic the X and PS5 can pull off – features that barely impact gameplay.

If – and that’s a big if – my series S will stop being a reasonable way to game in a few years, supply of the X will probably hopefully be a lot better. Or Microsoft might launch a new and improved ‘S2’ (the name is and will be stupid), and I’ll happily buy that.

It’s a genius move by Microsoft, really. Giving people options. Isn’t that what the PC crowd always touts as a benefit of PC gaming as well?

No. Next-gen means next-gen! It means games and experiences only possible on the latest, highest-spec technological breakthroughs – I mean, if you can play the same game on the previous iteration a non 4K screen, what’s even the point?

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 3:26 PM

I have plenty of friends who hadn’t even made the jump to XOne / PS4 era consoles, and the Series S was a gigantic no-brainer decision for them. It’s a low-cost entry point into the new generation, and that’s all a lot of people really want in the end.

Personally, I think we constantly underestimate what the lowest common denominator of consumer will put up with in regards to electronics and new tech.

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 1:03 PM

Xbox Game Pass makes it much more tempting to those who have been patiently waiting on the sidelines to get a new console.

Is there any hard data on Xbox and PS5 production numbers?
Is Xbox becoming more widely available is a question of supply or demand?

In the case of the PS5, sales numbers presumably still equal production rate. Up until very recently, the same would be true for Xbox (and I suppose it’s still partially true). Which means the "console war" has so far been pretty much a production war.

Which in theory should be an opportunity for Microsoft. Whoever outproduces the other takes the lead – independent of which console would be most popular with sufficient supply.

In other words: is it possible Xbox has been outselling Playstation by accomplishing a higher production rate?

Yes, Xbox has ben outselling PS5 since the beginning of 2022. In US Xbox is sellling almost double of PS5 and in Europe Xbox is still higher but its a closer race. PS5 is still doing belter in Japan though.

That’s definitely what is happening, also these numbers are only for the US, not Europe and Asia.

If either console had a "must play" exclusive at this point, we’d all be crying a lot harder. The conspiracy theorist in me is wondering if they are slow-playing game development to let the console supply chain ease up.

I think if you look back to the announcements that were made when the consoles were revealed, they knew those games wouldn’t be out for a long time. The complexity of developing the new games is hard enough, add in remote work/pandemic and it’s a wonder anything has shipped.

Well, they áre betting on cross gen for now, for sure.

I’m quite happy with my series S, but technically there are no games that I couldn’t have played on my crusty launch Xbox One. (The S is way nicer to use and live with though; I have limited gaming time and the lack of long loading times and the existence of quick resume is great).

I do think if there was more supply available on the Sony side we’d have seen fewer cross gen games. I feel like the fairly late announcement for God of War and Horizon on PS4 was because they might have canceled those versions to push people over to the PS5 if they’d been able to get more of them in customer’s hand.

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 1:29 PM

I own both. I spent more time putting on the Dark Plates than I have actually playing the PS5. I am beyond impressed with the Series X. A lot of value in $600.

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 1:49 PM

Can’t beat the series S for the price… well played ms

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 2:06 PM

The only thing that makes it hard to recommend is the small storage included, given how big games are now. But I have one and it’s really good, especially for the price.

Posted  on Apr 25, 2022 | 2:20 PM

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