Whether you were successful or not in getting a next generation console last November, you know that it was quite a feat. Both Sony and Microsoft saw great success with their respective consoles, and their partner AMD has said they were also happy with the outcome. However, due to certain issues, the new systems have been straddled somewhat in line with their predecessors.
As reported by GamesIndustry, Ampere Analysis says that the PS5 matched the PS4 with 4.2 million units for these first few months (do keep in mind the PS4 met that number without launching in Japan, whereas PS5 launched worldwide), and the Xbox Series X/S lagged just slightly behind the Xbox One shipping 2.8 million vs 2.9 million.
The numbers are good by themselves, but the main reason that they are simply matching the previous hardware and not surpassing them comes down to stock restraints, say Ampere. They do note they found it disappointing that Microsoft was unable to produce more stock and take full advantage of the high demand, though they did say that overall revenue was now more important to the company than unit sales due to a renewed focus on services like Game Pass.
Both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S are technically available now, though it’s expected that stock issues could persist through large parts of 2021.
