According to analyst firm Ampere Analysis, consumer sales of the PlayStation 5 are about 1.7 times higher than the sales of the Xbox Series X/S by the end of 2021.
Earlier this month, Sony said it had shipped 17.3 million PS5 consoles to retailers by the end of December. Pierce Pierce, head of Ampere Analysis, believes that almost all of these machines went into the hands of consumers last year. In a research note this week, the analyst said: "By the end of 2021, the cumulative sales of sony PS5s have reached 17.1 million units, which is about 1.7 times the sales of the Xbox Series."
"In the current early stages, Sony's global sales momentum is strong, but the level of product availability has weakened its potential."
According to Phil Spencer, president of Microsoft Games, The Xbox Series X/S will continue to sell more games than any previous generation of Microsoft consoles.
Unlike its competitors, though, Microsoft didn't disclose shipments of Xbox hardware in its quarterly financial reports.
Previously, Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmed estimated that the Xbox Series X/S shipments will exceed 12 million units by the end of 2021, but Harding Rawls believes that the installed base of the console actually sold to consumers is much lower than that. He estimates: "By the end of 2021, microsoft Xbox Series devices will have cumulative sales of 10.3 million units." "That's on par with the previous generation Xbox One cycle." Harding-Rawls said the Xbox Series X's massive out-of-stock sales last year were partially offset by series S's stronger level of product availability.
"The cheaper, slightly weaker Xbox Series S has better availability, and together with the Xbox Game Pass, it has driven an unprecedented popularity of this purely digital device. Ampere estimates that by the end of 2021, the cumulative sales of the S series will exceed the X series. ”
