The ninth generation of consoles is well advanced, with the PS5 and Xbox Series X having been released for over six months now. Next-gen consoles from Microsoft and Sony launched worldwide in November, and while the new PlayStation and Xbox have been hit by widespread stockouts, consoles have consistently sold millions of units. According to the latest estimates from VGChartz, the PS5 wins the sales battle against the Xbox Series X, but the Nintendo Switch still significantly outperforms both systems.
Global hardware estimates for the week to June 5 indicate that the PS5 has since launch sold just over nine million consoles, while the Xbox Series X and S have sold 5.33 million.
For the week of May 30 to June 5, the PS5 would have sold 199,629 consoles worldwide, with the Xbox Series X and S having sold 112,864.
While the PS5 is said to sell almost twice as much as the Xbox Series X and S, breaking down the sales figures by region shows that the battle is closer in some regions than in others.
According to VGChartz estimates, the PS5 vs Xbox Series X sales battle is closest to the Americas.
For the week leading up to June 5, the P55 sold 75,232 consoles and the Xbox Series X and S 65,866.
The market with the largest gap is Europe, with the PS5 selling 82,852 during the same period, compared to 33,929 for the Xbox Series X and S.
In Asia and Oceania, the PS5 is ahead of sales of the Xbox Series X and S.
In Asia, which includes Japan – a region where Xbox has historically struggled, the PS5 sold 38,269 consoles in the week to June 5. This is compared to the Xbox Series X and S which sold 9,246 consoles.
While that’s less than a quarter of what the PS5 sold, the numbers appear to be more favorable than the Xbox One era.
Between its launch in 2017 and 2020, the Xbox One is said to have sold just over 100,000 consoles in Japan.
Elsewhere in Oceania, the sales gap between PS5 and Xbox Series X and S is narrow.
Between May 30 and June 5, the PS5 reportedly sold 6,389 compared to the 4,267 in the Xbox Series X and S.
However, in all regions, the number one console is the Nintendo Switch.
According to VGChartz, for the week leading up to June 5, the Switch sold 392,790 consoles worldwide.
That’s almost double what the PS5 sold in that same period, and more than triple what the Xbox Series X and S did.
However, the caveat to all of this is that the Switch is currently unaffected by the same lingering stock shortages that plague the PS5 and Xbox Series X and S.
These latest figures will all give Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony different reasons to celebrate.
For Sony, PlayStation continues the momentum of the previous generation and still continues to outperform Xbox.
But for Microsoft, the narrow gap to Sony’s sales in some regions, as well as this generation’s narrower Xbox and PlayStation sales compared to the last, could give them cause for optimism.
The PS4 has overtaken the Xbox One by more than two to one, while the gap between the PS5 and the Xbox Series X and S is smaller.
And finally for Nintendo, the sales momentum that the Nintendo Switch has enjoyed for years continues to boom.
It looks like the Switch could surpass the Wii’s lifetime sales by the end of this year, making it the sixth best-selling console of all time – and Nintendo’s best-selling home console.
If the Switch manages to make that milestone in less than five years, it may give hope that the Switch could end up at the top of the list of best-selling consoles of all time, ultimately.
The PS2 is currently the best-selling console of all time – it sold 155 million units in its lifetime.
