PS5 seems to have stocks at a minimum in Europe, which obviously affects sales in a very negative way, which mark a crisis point even compared to the previous months: for the first time, Xbox Series X | S seems to have overtaken PS5 in terms of sales in February 2022 also in markets where historically it has lagged behind the Sony console.
There are no precise data yet, but to report the question is the usual Christopher Dring, journalist of GamesIndustry.biz who deals with market and sales data, who anticipates what will be the information arriving tomorrow on the European video game market.
As reported in the tweet above, data collected by GSD for February 2022 is expected to show a drop in PS5 sales, although otherwise, it was a month full of high-caliber releases from a software perspective. “Console sales continue to be struggling,” reports Dring, “PS5 stock levels are at such a level that, for the first time, more Xbox Series have been sold than PS5 in tracked European markets.”
We’ll have the February European market report for you tomorrow, courtesy of GSD. It was a great month for new games. Console sales continue to struggle. PS5 stock levels meant that, for the first time, more Xbox Series consoles were sold than PS5s (in tracked European markets)
— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) March 14, 2022
In the state we are in at the moment, in terms of production and distribution of consoles, it is clear that sales depend mainly on the ability to produce machines and put them on the market, so the decline of PS5 is probably due to its absence in stores.
On the other hand, the increased presence of the Xbox Series X | S also gives rise to an interesting discussion on the strategy adopted by Microsoft for its next-gen consoles. Considering that the Xbox Series S seems to be more present than the other consoles, even the Xbox Series X, it is clear that it is an easier machine to produce also in terms of the collection of materials and assembly.
It is difficult for Microsoft to have been able to predict the situation in which we find ourselves at the moment, given that the crisis was not easily conceivable until a few years ago, but it seems that the bet to build a different model at a reduced cost turned out to be particularly apt. , in this situation.