PS5 beats Xbox Series X|S in sales, Nintendo Switch bests both

Switch outsells rivals even five years after launch

Numbers compiled by VGChartz suggest that Sony’s PlayStation 5 has outperformed Microsoft’s Xbox Series X|S by about 2.2 million sales globally over the course of 2022. While this may look like a large gap, Microsoft actually managed to gain ground compared to the difference between the rivals in the year prior.

The gulf between the two current-gen platforms is also much closer than the one between their predecessors PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Sony’s PS4 regularly beat the Xbox One with double the sales numbers, so the recent developments bode well for Microsoft.

Both the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 launched in November 2020, so they have been available on the market for over two years now.

However, both platforms still must bow to an older competitor in yearly sales: Nintendo’s Switch, originally launched in March 2017, once again topped the charts with a lead of about 5.2 million units compared to PS5. While PS5 and Xbox Series X|S almost caught up with the Switch in the US in 2022, consumers in Europe and Japan continued to flock towards the cheaper console in much greater numbers.

Several big exclusives will hit Xbox in 2023, which will also strengthen the lineup of Xbox Game Pass compared to PlayStation Plus. While this may not be enough to overtake Sony in the next couple of months, Microsoft might stabilize its upwards trend and continue to gobble up market share bit by bit.

We may also see a decision from regulators regarding the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft in 2023, which could have further impact on the sales numbers going forward.