Xbox Series X is finally outselling Series S in the US, per new sales report — but console hardware is still dropping

[Windows Central]

Xbox Series X is outselling Series S in the U.S, according to the September 2024 Circana sales report, but video game hardware is still trending down.

Xbox Series X is finally outselling Series S in the US, per new sales report — but console hardware is still dropping : Read more

 

[fatpunkslim]

Console hardware is down everywhere, not just at Xbox! Playstaton sales fell 45% year-on-year, almost the same percentage as for Xbox. The console market is in recession and in any case, at this time of the generation, that's pretty normal too.It must be said that the X series has dropped in price and offers better comfort. Even if the S series remains the best value for money in consoles, any manufacturer combined.

 

[Lurking_Lurker_Lurks]

I really can't stand the copium people smoke regarding console sales. Just because PS is still doing better than Xbox (as they always have) does not magically mean they're okay and the console market still isn't a dumpster fire. Consoles aren't reaching new people. The data matches the usual and the usual is terrible for a market like the console market. The last thing you want in business is for your user base to NOT significantly be expanding while your costs are exponentially. The only one that's probably fine is Nintendo and only because they seemingly have the best margins and more importantly don't have nearly as lofty goals to meet.

I honestly think Xbox is fine because they're treating Xbox as a brand and a platform and not JUST a console (they aren't abandoning it and all the money it makes, but are also expanding as they should). And like they said they're still seeing as much active console users (more than ever actually) and they aren't hugely concerned with making them upgrade. Sony on the other hand... I seriously don't think how anyone could see them charging $700 (more outside the US) for a minimal upgrade pro model without a stand or disc drive as anything but a cry for help. They're struggling to adapt to reality. Their live service attempts have been mostly a miss minus Helldivers (and sometimes a huge miss). Their mobile goals are umm.... well we're fast approaching those years they targeted. They're forced to move to supporting PC begrudgingly. They've had to give up on "believing in generations" and so on.

Really consoles overall have been disappointing and frustrating because the route they took competing has really closed them off to new users and general audiences and firmly established consoles as niche gaming devices. Why would anyone buy a console when third party games play hopscotch exclusive? When you need to buy entirely different hardware for the privelege to purchase certain games? When cross progression and cross play aren't the norm still? When games you buy historically might not even work on the successor model you buy WITHIN THE SAME ECOSYSTEM. People these days complain about needing more than one streaming service to catch certain originals. Why do gamers believe exclusives and walling off consoles were ever a strategy to induce a healthy market? In 2024 the best selling console shouldn't just now be maybe the first console to dethrone the ps2 in 2006 at under 160m sales (in a six year lifespan). Xbox was right in the One era in that consoles can't just see each other as competition. They are just another method by which people can entertain themselves and people weigh them against other entertainment options and most people just don't want to bother entertaining themselves on a console. That's not even that they dislike gaming. The same people will put hundreds of hours on mobile games. They just reasonably don't want to get into any console ecosystem when they're so walled off (even from iterations of the same console).

Speaking of, it does make sense the Series X is overtaking the S. The Series S is an entry point console and most of the new buyers have bought the console they want. Now more people are upgrading AND the Series X on average costs significantly less than it did four years ago. If you have an Xbox One it makes more sense to upgrade to a Series X (more gains and it takes up about as much space).