Source: Future Publishing / Getty / Xbox / PlayStation 5
It’s clear one company is faring better than the other when getting its hardware into homes.
2023 so far, has been a mixed bag of meh for Xbox. The company reports its gaming revenue is down across the board, but there is a silver lining.
The biggest hit comes in hardware sales, dropping 30% from the same period this time last year. According to Xbox, that number is a product of increased console supply in 2022, allowing people to get their hands on either an Xbox Series X or Series S console.
Xbox also reports gaming revenue is down just 4% year-to-year. But, in the same breath, it saw a 3% increase in its content and services revenue thanks to more people subscribing to Xbox Game Pass.
Xbox also broke third-quarter records for monthly and active devices, reporting over 500 million unique, plus revenue for gaming subscriptions has almost nearly hit $1 billion.
Speaking on the company’s latest financial news, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, “Across our content and services business, we’re delivering on our commitment to offer gamers more ways to experience the games they love, while revenue from subscriptions reached nearly $1 billion this quarter.”
News Is Much More Positive For PlayStation
Meanwhile, Xbox’s direct competitor, PlayStation, is celebrating. According to its latest financial report, the PlayStation 5 sold 6.3 million units in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2022-23.
That’s more than three times stronger than last year’s previous fourth quarter when the company moved two million units out of warehouses.
At the end of Q3, Sony sold 32.1 million units; with the latest figures, the company has reached 38.4 million PS5s sold. Sony sold nearly as many PS5 consoles in the financial year 2022-23 as it did in the previous year, with 19.1 million consoles compared to 19.3 during the last year.
Still, this was not Sony’s strongest quarter. The company did manage to move 7.1 million consoles in Q3.
Like with Xbox, Sony’s increase in sales is likely connected to the PS5 now being readily available to consumers. Sony Interactive Entertainment president Jim Ryan basically has said the PS5 shortage is all but over.
If the console wars are genuinely a thing, one company seems to be winning.
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Photo: Future Publishing / Getty
