Sales of the Gen 9 consoles, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, have surpassed a total of 77 million units as of the year 2023.
During its Q3 2024 Earnings Conference Call, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc revealed that PS5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles sales have surpassed 77 million units as of December 31, 2023. In addition, it was revealed that there were 3.4 billion global video game players in the year 2023, and over 3 billion active global video game players.
Based on the 77 million cumulative PS5 and Xbox Series X|S sales figure, it’s possible to extrapolate an estimate for the individual sales figures of the current-gen consoles. On December 9, 2023, Sony Interactive Entertainment had announced that the PS had surpassed 50 million units sold through to consumers, three years since its launch in November 2020. Given the holiday period, it’s likely that the console sold an addition 2 to 4 million units by December 31, 2023. This puts Xbox Series X|S sales at around 23 to 25 million units.
As such, it appears that the current-gen install base has gained significant momentum heading into the year 2024. The PS5 has managed to maintain a comfortable lead by a 2:1 ratio over the Xbox Series X|S consoles. Perhaps it isn’t surprising, then, that Microsoft may be bringing some of its first party titles to rival platforms. Speaking during Microsoft’s recent annual shareholders meeting, CEO Satya Nadella confirmed the company’s plans to release Xbox first party games across all platforms. He stated this in response to a question regarding the health and future of Xbox.
Nadella said that, after its recent acquisitions, the software giant now has the ability to do what it has always set out to do, which is to build great games and deliver them to players “across all platforms”, which includes “Xbox and consoles, the PCs, and now even including mobile gaming and cloud gaming”. Additionally, during a recent Bloomberg interview, Nadella specifically mentioned that he wants Microsoft to be a “good publisher” for both PlayStation and Nintendo.
