Despite the various supply issues that have contributed to lower sales of consoles this generation, sales of the Playstation 5 last month were up a whopping 202% in European markets compared to last year. This is all according to a tweet by media veteran Christopher Dring, who also gave statistics on other major consoles.
While Playstation 5 sales were up this month compared to last year, the Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X weren’t so lucky. Sales of the Switch dropped 11 percent compared to last year, while Xbox Series X sales dropped 32 percent despite being the better console in terms of graphics.
There are likely a number of reasons for why the Playstation 5 has grown this much as well; better exclusive games is the most likely one, as Sony has fought tooth and nail to keep certain highly-anticipated games from coming to other consoles.
The most likely reason would probably be God of War: Ragnarok, the sequel to the 2018 God of War game that won multiple honors at the Game Awards and has sold over 11 million copies since it came out last November. Various other exclusive games such as Horizon: Forbidden West have also been popular.
When this console generation first arrived, various issues, mainly supply chain difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, kept supplies low and prices high, to say nothing of rampant scalpers buying up as many Playstation 5 consoles as they could. Now, with supplies rising, and holiday deals, many gamers likely saw their chance to buy a PS5 while they could.
A lack of any new Nintendo or Xbox games that really brought out any widespread appeal can also be blamed for both of those consoles having their sales decrease compared to last year. Most of their more appealing games, in this case Hi-Fi Rush and Metroid Prime Remastered, came out in the last few weeks and months, and neither can really be called “system-sellers”.
Exactly how this year continues to go for Sony is still up in the air, but with the number of consoles they sold, and with multiple games slated to come out this year for the Playstation 5, it will likely be a very good one.
