Ever since the launch of the Xbox One X in November last year, Microsoft console has seen something of a resurgence in terms of sales and popularity. Not only has it seen year on year growth in the US in both July and August, it seems the system’s also showing immense growth in terms of sales in the United Kingdom as well.
According to UK retailer Argos, the Xbox One has seen the most growth in terms of sales in the period of a year out of all the consoles currently on the market. Between July 2017 and July 2018, the Xbox One has seen a growth of 22 per cent in sales in the UK, which is twice as much as the PS4’s 11 per cent. Meanwhile, the Switch as seen a 9 per cent growth.
Nick Hill, Head of Video Gaming Buying at Argos, feels that this is largely due to the Fortnite craze, which has driven up sales of all systems, the Xbox One included. And according to Hill, these figures are only bound to go upward still, thanks to the oncoming Holiday season.
“It’s incredible to see how much Fortnite has influenced our customers and inspired a new generation of gamers,” Hill said. “Demand for gaming laptops, controllers, gaming chairs and headsets has soared as customers look for ways to further enhance their gaming experience. Based on previous gaming phenomena like Pokemon Go two years ago, we predict that Fortnite fever will peak this Christmas as more of our customers spend their free time immersing themselves in the game.”
Given the fact that Microsoft recently announced a Fortnite bundle for the Xbox One S (as did Nintendo for the Switch), I can see that being doubly true come November-December.
Notably enough, though the Xbox One is the fastest growing console in the UK currently, in terms of the number of units sold, the PS4 still remains firmly in lead, according to Argos- which is to be expected, really, given just how strong of a foothold Sony’s consoles have in that market.