According to the Adobe Digital Economy Index, the Xbox Series S was the top-selling console in stores in the United States of America during Black Friday this year. It surpassed PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch OLED, and Xbox Series X.
The data comes from an analysis of 1 trillion visits to retail sites, as well as a survey of more than a thousand retailers on their most popular products. The key factor behind Series S’s popularity is likely availability, as the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are still difficult to buy globally.
According to recent estimates by market research firm Ampere Analytics, the Xbox Series S outperformed the more powerful Xbox Series X in several key markets during the console’s first year due to supply constraints and component shortages.
The popularity of the Xbox Series S is easy to explain. The console costs almost half the price of an Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5, not to mention its availability in stores. Of course, it has much more modest characteristics compared to Series X, but it still allows you to play all modern games, which, when combined with Game Pass, makes it one of the most affordable platforms for the mainstream buyer.
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This is in line with Microsoft‘s expectations. Back in October 2020, executive vice president of the corporation and head of Xbox Phil Spencer told the newspaper Kotaku: «I think that in this generation, the price really will make a difference and you will see that the Series S will sell better”.
PlayStation 5 consoles suffers from a lack of components
The first wave of the pandemic sharply increased the demand for game consoles; but the Sony PlayStation 5, released last fall, remains in short supply from the first day of sales; as the situation is aggravated by a lack of components. According to Sony forecasts, by March next year; the company will be able to release no more than 15 million consoles of this model; which is a million less than the original plan.
The forecasts of the Japanese corporation are shared by Bloomberg with reference to their own sources. In the Sony calendar, the fiscal year ends in March; and the company expected to release at least 16 million copies of the PlayStation 5 during the reporting period; but now the shortage of components is forcing this number to be reduced by a million pieces. At the same time, it was planned to sell at least 14.8 million consoles; but even this level is unattainable under the current conditions.
The PlayStation 5 console started quite confidently, having sold 10 million copies by the middle of the year; but later the sales rate began to lag behind the PlayStation 4 at a comparable stage of the life cycle. Game publishers began to note that PlayStation 5 availability issues were pushing buyers to purchase PC versions of their games. Sony’s partners involved in the production of the console are preparing to maintain a shortage of components throughout 2022; calling the planned production volume of 22.6 million PlayStation 5 by March 2023 overstated.
