Microsoft has once been very close to Sony and its PlayStation. It happened in the late 2000s with the launch of the Xbox 360 which, in many markets, had the success of outselling the brand new PS3. Although this was not the case in Spain, in places like the US and the UK, Microsoft came to believe that the time had come to give the surprised definitive.
a painful mirage
That job well done by Microsoft with Xbox 360, which began by pre-empting the launch of the PS3 and creating a machine as powerful as the Japanese, was cut short in 2013 with Xbox One which is, to this day, the biggest American fiasco: a questionable machine power was followed by a calamitous launch strategy (100 euros more expensive than PS4 because of insisting on launching it with Kinect).
The point is that with Xbox Series X, Microsoft sought to redeem itself in a really adverse scenario where it seems that PlayStation has definitely taken the lead. As we write these lines, PS5 already accumulates sales of about 34 million consoles, for the 21 that total between Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
Now, the two Microsoft machines that make up its new generation,How are they doing in sales with respect to their greatest success, which was Xbox 360?? Well, we have the data of what happened in the first 28 months from the launch date and the news is really positive. Behold.
above but below
Indeed, if we stick the comparison to what Xbox Series X | S have achieved against Xbox 360, we will see that it maintains a positive trend of constant growth that has allowed it to reach those almost 21 million consoles sold between the two models. That means they are approximately 3.5 million above what was achieved by Xbox 360 globally in the same time period of almost 28 months.
This means that the current generation of consoles, despite the lack of stock of the first months has improved on the great success of Microsoft in 2005, reached the milestones of 5, 10, 15 and 20 million machines sold long before Xbox 360. As you can see in the graph that we leave you just above.
Now, here comes the bad news: the current console market has grown substantially with a much larger critical mass of users, which significantly dilutes the potential success that those of Phil Spencer want to celebrate. Especially if we look at those 34 million PS5 and, above all, the brutality of the figures for Nintendo Switch, which has just exceeded 123 million units sold.
With all of the above, it is clear that Microsoft has to row a lot to get closer to Sony to which, little by little, it is cutting some margin, especially supported by the irresistible offer that Xbox Game Pass supposes and its more than 450 games for just 13 euros a month. Something that remains to be seen if it gives it strength so that, in the next generation, it can reduce its gap disadvantaged against the Japanese. That between Xbox One and PS4, for example, it became much larger than the current one with PS5.
