PlayStation/Xbox/Switch Hardware Battle: 2021 Edition: FINAL RESULTS!

[PAOerfulone]

Week 5 Breakdown:

PlayStation 4: Up in the United States; Down in Europe, Japan, and the Rest of the World; Down overall.

PlayStation 5: Up in Japan and the Rest of the World; Down in the United States and Europe; Up overall.

Xbox One: Down in all regions.

Xbox Series: Up in all regions.

Nintendo Switch: Up in all regions.

One month is officially in the books for 2021 and we now enter February and the 5th week of the year. And so far, we are seeing some trends being set.

The '21 PS4 has been consistently down all 5 weeks against the '14 PS4 thus far. While U.S. and Europe remain competitive in this comparison, the Japan and Rest of the World comparisons have been completely one-sided up to this point.

The PS5 vs. PS4 comparison has been much closer as the PS5 continues to slowly chip away at the lead the PS4 built in the first 2 weeks of the year. However, the main reason for why this has been the case is because the PS4 has the advantage of having a free region due to the fact that the PS4 did not release in Japan until Week 8. Once Week 8 roles in, we're going to see that lead skyrocket in favor of the PS4.

The Xbox One vs. Xbox 360 comparison has been anything but competitive thus far, with the 360 continuously adding to its lead by considerable margins and pulling further away from the Xbox One. This one is pretty much a forgone conclusion.

The Xbox Series vs. Xbox One comparison is the most probably the most encouraging one in this thread, especially if you're an Xbox fan. After losing the 1st week, the Series X/S has gone on to win the next 4 weeks, each advantage bigger than the last. Week 10 in 2014 was the release of Titanfall, which was positioned as a major 1st party exclusive at the time and boosted Xbox One sales for that week. However, I think that will only make a dent in the Series X/S lead which will continue to mount up until then. And as we get towards the end of May, where the Xbox One baseline was really down at subpar levels, the Series X/S should be pretty far ahead at that point.

The Nintendo Switch comparison, which is the by far the most anticipated comparison on this thread based on the poll, is fairly close considering the level of sales the system is at. The '21 Switch adds to its lead in all 4 regions yet again over the '20 Switch, and that's despite the fact that Japan saw a noticeable drop from the previous week. Week 6 will see a the '20 Switch have a big bump from Week 5, thanks in large part to Japan. However, it also will mark the release of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, and we already saw it have an effect on Japan in the Famitsu thread, and I expect it to have an even bigger effect in the US and Europe, considering Mario, especially 3D Mario, is much more popular in the West than he is in the homeland.