Nov 22, 2023 News Source trueachievements 57 hits
According to recent data, Microsoft has seen a drop in European sales of its Xbox Series X|S consoles by almost half since October 2022, putting the tech giant far behind Nintendo and PlayStation, the latter of which, has seen an incredible increase in sales. As reported by GI.biz , Xbox Series X|S sales in Europe have dropped by 52% over October last year. Nintendo sits just above Microsoft in second place, even though Switch sales have seen a 20% drop year-on-year. Leading the charge is Sony, which has seen its PlayStation 5 sales increase by an incredible 143% over the last year. “The sheer absence of available console stock last year does skew these figures quite a bit, ," GI.biz head of games B2B Chris Dring told IGN . “And it’s worth noting that Eurozone countries have never been Xbox’s strongest territories. They revealed back in February they only hold 20% of the market versus PlayStation’s 80%. However, even in the UK, which is a market where Xbox is a lot more competitive it’s been a tough year, with Xbox Series S and X sales down 23% year-to-date. The reality is the console has very little momentum, which is such a crucial element when it comes to how successful a generation is or isn’t for a platform holder.” According to the data, Microsoft is falling behind on console sales in month-on-month comparisons as well. GI.biz mentions that PlayStation's Marvel Spider-Man 2 and Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. Wonder both broke sales records when they released in October 2023, while Microsoft's Starfield, which launched in September, didn't break any — Starfield launched into Xbox Game Pass on Xbox Series X|S and PC. With that in mind, PlayStation 5 sales were up 11% last month compared to September, Switch sales were up 10%, and Xbox Series X|S sales sadly dropped by 20%. Microsoft's drop in console sales could be for a multitude of reasons, especially with its slow rollout of exclusive games. The company has said that it expects to release new exclusive titles more often from 2024, so that could help on that front. Xbox Game Pass could also be playing a role in the company's drop in sales, as all of its exclusive games drop into its Xbox Game Pass service on the day of release, with the majority of them hitting PC at the same time — not to mention mobile via Xbox Cloud Gaming. Many of Samsung's QLED TVs now come with Xbox Cloud Game built-in, again removing the need for players to have a physical console to access the games. It's also worth noting that leaked court documents shown during Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, revealed that the company is potentially planning to drop a mid-gen Xbox Series X|S refresh next year .
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