According to analytics firm Ampere Analysis, consumer sales of the PlayStation 5 will be roughly 1.7 times that of the Xbox Series X/S by the end of 2021. Earlier this month, Sony said it had shipped 17.3 million PS5 consoles to retailers as of the end of December.
Pierce Harding-Rolls, director of AmpereAnalysis, believes that almost all of these devices made their way into the hands of consumers last year. “Sony PS5 will have cumulative sales of 17.1 million units by the end of 2021, roughly 1.7 times more than the Xbox Series,” the analyst said in a research note this week.
Sony’s global sales momentum is strong at the current early stage, but product supply levels have undermined its potential.”
According to Microsoft Gaming President Phil Spencer, the Xbox Series X/S will continue to outsell any previous generation of Microsoft consoles. Unlike its rivals, though, Microsoft doesn’t disclose Xbox hardware shipments in its quarterly financial report.
Previously, Niko Partners senior analyst Daniel Ahmed estimated that Xbox Series X/S shipments will exceed 12 million units by the end of 2021, but Harding-Rolls believes that the actual sales of the console to consumers’ installed base is well below that number.
By the end of 2021, Microsoft’s cumulative sales of Xbox Series devices will reach 10.3 million units, he estimates. This is on par with the previous generation Xbox One cycle. This is offset by the Series S’ stronger product offering levels.
The better availability of the cheaper, slightly less powerful Xbox Series S, along with Xbox Game Pass, has driven the unprecedented popularity of this digital-only device. Ampere estimates that cumulative Series S sales will exceed 20 percent by the end of 2021. X-Series.
