While Microsoft may have lost the console wars to Sony in the eighth generation, what with Xbox One only selling a little over 50 million units compared to PS4’s staggering 116.6 million, the gaming juggernaut is definitely bringing the fight to the blue team with the new Xbox Series X/S.
While the ninth generation counterpart to PlayStation 5 has been described by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella as the company’s fastest-selling console to date, it’s still a little behind its competitor in terms of sales figures. According to the latest reports, PS5 has managed to market 15.28 million consoles since its release back in November 2020, while Microsoft is slowly mending the gap, sitting at around 9.84 million units sold as of now.
Xbox boss Phil Spencer has just revealed in an interview with NY Times that Series X/S still continues to break company records. He also claimed that the shortage of Xbox hardware in markets around the world is not due to fewer consoles being produced, but a substantial increase in demand ever since the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Back in, what would it have been—March, April of 2020—we sold out of consoles, which we never do, in April and May,” He said. “Because you had this sudden swell of usage. Our networks were tapped as people were coming on. And the team worked hard to fulfill that demand. And in some ways, we’re still trying to do this.”
Spencer further reiterated his words by noting that their ninth generation console continues to sell at a record pace, saying:
“At this point, we’ve sold more of this generation of Xboxes, which is Xbox Series X and S, than we had any previous version of Xboxes. So it’s our job to get the supply there to meet that demand.”
Thanks to an amazing line-up of exclusive titles that are making their way to the Xbox platform, it’s safe to say that Microsoft will not be humbled as easily as they were in the previous generation.