Next-gen is officially new-gen now that the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 consoles have landed. It’s a time for celebration, but this week has also been a milestone in terms of organisation. With millions of people around the world clutching their preorder tickets, fan expectation through the roof, and a freakin’ pandemic on the loose, Sony and Microsoft have pulled off a heck of a feat to get consoles out of the warehouses and into homes.
For Microsoft, the launch of the new Xboxes has been a feather in its cap as Xboss Phil Spencer revealed on Twitter that “more Xbox consoles had been sold, in more countries, than ever before” this week. Spencer’s definitely right about the number of countries that got their hands on the chunky unit: A grand total of 37 including us here in sunny South Africa were launch day ready, which is a heck of a lot better than the paltry 13 regions that the Xbox One rolled out in back in ye older gaming days.
Team Xbox isn’t sharing exact numbers though, but as video games analyst Daniel Ahmad pointed out the Xbox One shipped a million consoles during its launch. Did the Xbox Series X/S ship a million and one consoles? Possible, but I reckon the total is even higher. Microsoft won’t be posting exact sales number this generation either, as the company measures its success based on how it’s doing on console, PC, and cloud gaming. The online gaming that is, not people blowing vape smoke into their Xbox consoles.
“I can promise you that I won’t do that,” Spencer said to The Guardian.
In the last year we’ve had Google and Amazon and now Facebook announcing they’re coming into our gaming space. I’m not gonna go compete with their numbers based on how many Xbox Series X I’ve sold. [Google] is never gonna talk about how many Chromecast Pros they sold. They’re gonna talk about how many players they have.
I think the people who want to pit us against Sony based on who sold the most consoles lose the context of what gaming is about today. There are 3 billion people who play games on the planet today, but maybe [only] 200 million households that have a video game console. In a way, the console space is becoming a smaller and smaller percentage of the overall gaming pie.
It’s a big win for Microsoft and Sony this week, but this new generation of console gaming already feels like a massive win for all gamers. Time to pop open a little bit of the bubbly and celebrate this weekend.
Last Updated: November 13, 2020
SagatatiaRZA
November 13, 2020 at 08:51
“I think the people who want to pit us against Sony based on who sold the most consoles lose the context of what gaming is about today. ” Damn straight. Can smell the cheetoh dust a mile off when I read a “Screw *console*!”. It’s a gaming machine my guy, please relax. Congrats to Microsoft! More console sales, more money invested in our collective hobby, more fun for all of us!
Mark Treloar
November 13, 2020 at 09:17
“I think the people who want to pit us against Sony based on who sold the most consoles lose the context of what gaming is about today. ” He says while shovelling fuel into the Bethesda exclusivity trash fire
SagatatiaRZA
November 13, 2020 at 09:38
I think you’re confusing trash fires and common business practices. I’ve never owned an Xbox in my life and can comfortably say it’s just business and I would do the same.
Mark Treloar
November 13, 2020 at 12:50
I was referring to Bethesda being the trash fire not Microsoft’s business practices. That said Microsoft cant complain about being compared to their completion when those business practices put them in opposition with the Company and their customers. Same goes for Sony. If you want to do things like this you have to expect the comparisons.
setzor
November 13, 2020 at 15:56
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