Sony sold 62 million PlayStation 5 consoles, while Microsoft only sold 28.3 million Xbox Series

According to the latest data, Sony continues to lead the game console segment, with 61.7 million PlayStation 5 shipments through June of this year. That’s more than double Xbox Series shipments, which reached 28.3 million units. A market analysis by The Wall Street Journal revealed the reasons for this gap, emphasizing Sony’s advantage in this confrontation.

The era of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 was the most successful for Microsoft, when the sales of both consoles were almost equal. However, Sony has strengthened its position over the past generation, and with the PlayStation 5, that gap has only widened. Despite advertising the Xbox Series as the most powerful console, the PlayStation 5 has an important advantage – exclusive games. The Xbox Series hasn’t delivered strong projects on the level of Halo or Gears of War in recent years, and recent exclusives have been flops. In addition, the Xbox Game Pass service, despite its popularity and prospects, reduces the need to buy a console, as many games are available by subscription.

However, Sony is also facing difficulties. Recently, the company announced the PlayStation 5 Pro, which caused a wave of negativity due to its high price – 699 dollars (799 euros in Europe) without a disc drive and stand. The console’s technical improvements have also been criticized, as many games still don’t support permissions that would be really high for such a powerful platform. In this regard, there are doubts that the PlayStation 5 Pro will be able to achieve the expected sales, especially against the background of the increase in sales of the Xbox Series in Japan after the announcement of the new Sony model.