PS5 Sales Were Almost Double Xbox Series X/S In 2021, Says Research Firm

You know, if it wasn’t for the actual sales figures, I’d genuinely be led to believe that the existence of the PS5 could well be a myth. The amount of units sold is huge, yet there never actually seems to be enough to go round.

Well, clearly they must be going somewhere, and it’d seem people are at least having a better time with getting hold of those than they are the Xbox Series consoles. As reported by VGC, Ampere research director, Piers Harding-Rolls, claims that Sony’s console sold almost double that of Microsoft’s last year.

Before we go on, be sure to check out this amazing creation of a carbon fiber Xbox controller below.

“Sony ended 2021 with PS5 cumulative sell-through reaching 17.1 million units, around 1.7 times the performance of Xbox Series sales,” he said in a research note. “At this early stage[,] the global sales momentum is with Sony, but it will be frustrated that its potential has been undermined by product availability.”

Of course, the product availability he’s referring to here is the global shortage of semiconductor chips. The pandemic heavily disrupted the supply chains of these, and things haven’t really drastically improved since - it’s thought that the issues might actually carry on into next year. So, it’s not just the scalpers who’ve been putting a stop to people getting their hands on the consoles - Sony is also struggling to make enough of them in the first place.

This isn’t the first we’ve heard of the PS5 outselling Xbox - it was previously revealed that the Series X/S only sold 95k units in Japan throughout 2021, making them about 10 times less popular than the PS5 there. Those figures are probably less surprising though, given that Xbox has never really taken off in Japan. Still, it's a drastic difference in sales.

It also wouldn’t be too shocking if the tables turn around completely this year, mind you - Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, and namely, the inevitable massive expansion to Game Pass that’s going to be happening as a result of that, is undoubtedly going to draw even more players in. This is your year, Microsoft - go get 'em tiger.