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

[PAOerfulone]

Week 46 Breakdown:

PlayStation 4: Down in all regions

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

Xbox One: Down in all regions.

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

Nintendo Switch: Up in the United States, Europe, and the Rest of the World; Down in Japan; Up overall

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It's BLACK FRIDAY!!!

Boy do we have a lot happening this week. 

First, I'll get the easy ones out of the way. PS4 and Xbox One are still down in all regions despite Black Friday. Yeah, those two are dead in the water. Moving on.

PlayStation 5: The system saw its sales just pass over 800k, big enough to stretch its lead over the PS4 '14 over 1 million units overall. It also passes 11 million units sold worldwide, which it also accomplished last year on Black Friday. The race between this and PS4 '14 is looking like it may come down to the wire with supply for the PS5 looking to be the deciding factor. I
It was up in every region with the exception of Japan; The combination of very limited supply + the gradual decline of the Japanese home console market being the main factors for this. Furthermore, the PS5 was actually the least selling system of the 3 on Black Friday. More on that as we get to the Xbox Series. Which should be right... Now!

Xbox Series: With just over 860k units sold, the Xbox Series comes in 2nd for Black Friday week. No surprise that the huge bulk of sales came from the NA region, as that is Microsoft's home region + that's where the bulk of Black Friday sales in general comes from. Roughly 69% of its sales. (Nice.) It also passes 7 million units sold for the year, a feat that the Xbox One didn't manage until the 52nd week (there were 53 weeks in 2014, which will be a factor as we reach the end) of 2014. Safe to say that by Week 49, the Xbox Series 2021 will officially pass the Xbox One 2014, from that point onward will be a showcase as to just how well Microsoft has managed to recover since last gen.

Nintendo Switch: Now on to the big boy. Easily coming in 1st this year, the Nintendo Switch damn near matched last year's Black Friday sales overall with over 1.6 million units sold. It even managed to surpass last year in the US and the Rest of the World (adjustments pending) and is actually now up YOY in the US as well while just trailing in the ROTW by 10k! (Again, adjustments pending.) It has also managed to pass 20 million units sold this week, which was the exact same week it did it last year - Week 47. (Last year, Black Friday was Week 48.) It's looking more and more like 2021 will fall short of 2020 overall, as well as in Europe and Japan. But the US and the ROTW are looking like it'll be a dead heat that goes down to the end.

Unfortunately, it looks like the hardware and chip shortages made their impact felt for all three systems as each one of them failed to match the Black Friday sales of their predecessors and prior years. More so with the PS5 and Switch. While the Series X also suffers from severe shortages, the Series S has been the most widely available of all the systems this holiday season, which is a big factor as to why the Xbox Series outsold the PS5 this year. (That and Halo Infinite.) I'm beginning to be convinced that if not for the shortages, all 3 might be winning right now and it'll be interesting to see how that affects 2022. But we'll cross that bridge when we're actually IN 2022.