The PS5 has ended up dominating Black Friday week sales in the US, while the Xbox Series X|S consoles have fallen short of reaching third place.
Mat Piscatella, Senior Director and Video Game Industry Thought Leader at Circana (formerly NPD), took to Blue Sky to share that the PS5 accounted for 47% of total Black Friday week hardware unit sales in the US, leading the market. He added that Nintendo Switch 2 ranked second (24%), while the NEX Playground ranked third (14%), leaving Xbox Series X|S consoles in the likely fourth place.
Xbox Series X|S losing the third spot to the Nex Playground during the Black Friday sales period comes as a surprise, given how the US market has historically been the most dominant region for Microsoft’s consoles.
Meanwhile, The Game Business reported that the PS5 also led the Black Friday week in the UK. According to GSD data, it was the only console to improve year-over-year during Black Friday, achieving a 16% increase in unit sales and capturing a commanding 62% share of the UK console market. Deep discounts played a major role here, as the PS5 Slim 1TB saw a 21% price drop from two weeks earlier, the Digital Slim dropped by 34%, and even the PS5 Pro hit an all-time low of £586. This helped drive its best week since launch. Across all models, the average PS5 selling price dropped to £340, only the seventh time the console has dipped below £400.
Xbox Series S and X systems fared better in the UK, securing the third sport and accounting for 10% of console sales, with average pricing down 8% to £385. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch 2 held second place with a 23% share, slightly lower than its usual post-launch performance, largely due to aggressive PS5 discounting. Its average selling price decreased only modestly, settling at £405. The original Nintendo Switch still maintained a small presence with 5% of sales.
