Week 41 Breakdown:

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

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

Xbox One: Down in all regions.

Xbox Series: Up in all regions.

Nintendo Switch: Down in all regions.

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This is the first week following the launch of the OLED model for the Switch and with sales at 393k it's the highest total outside of the OLED launch that the Switch has sold in a week since the last week of April. As we head towards November, the launches Mario Party and Pokemon are coming up. We shall see how those games help the Switch's chances with trying to catch up to last year's sales.

The PS5 and Xbox Series continue their tear over their last gen counterparts. Speaking of last gen, they continue their slow decline over 7th gen.

Between the strong sales between the new gen consoles as they head into their 2nd holiday season and first one post-launch year, as well as the Switch doing its thing, this Holiday Season is shaping up to be one for the record books.

Another thing worth noting is that with the release of the OLED model in the prior week, the Switch has officially passed the DS (pending adjustments from Nintendo's financial report next week) as the best selling Nintendo system of all time in the 'Rest of the World' region.

That was last week. This week, it also passed the PS3 for 4th on the All Time List in that region. It is starting to crack the stranglehold the PlayStation family has on that region, because prior to this week, the top 4 spots were al PS systems (PS2, PS4, PSP, and PS3 - Now the Switch sits behind the top 3.)

Week 42 Breakdown:

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

PlayStation 5: Up in all regions.

Xbox One: Down in all regions.

Xbox Series: Up in all regions.

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

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We're nearly at the end of October, and in light of Sony's latest financial report, both PlayStation systems (as well as the Xbox systems, despite Microsoft not release hardware figures) have received BIG adjustments. The PS4 and Xbox One were both slightly adjusted down. And the PS5 and Xbox Series were both adjusted up considerably. It's not a coincidence that while the new gen consoles are adjusted up, the last gen consoles are adjusted down. It's looking more and more like next year is going to be the beginning of the end for the PS4 and Xbox One.

Then we have the Nintendo Switch. Now Nintendo's financial report is not due until Thursday, but we still got minor adjustments. It was adjusted down, but very slightly, so slightly that you wouldn't have noticed if I didn't tell you. We'll see how much they change or if they change at all once the numbers are out on Thursday!

Week 43 Breakdown:

PlayStation 4: Down in all regions

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

Xbox One: Down in all regions.

Xbox Series: Up in all regions.

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

Week 44 Breakdown:

PlayStation 4: Down in all regions

PlayStation 5: Up in all regions.

Xbox One: Down in all regions.

Xbox Series: Up in all regions.

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

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We are now in the first week of November and now THE REAL FUN BEGINS!!!

And we have a milestone to make note of as the Nintendo Switch has officially passed 17 million units sold for 2021. For comparisons' sake, it only took until Week 41, three weeks earlier, for the Switch to do the same thing in 2020. The following two weeks will be interesting for the Switch, especially in Japan due to 2 major releases happening back to back over there. We have Shin Megami Tensei V slated for next week's update, and after that, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl. Pokemon week will most definitely see a MAJOR boost in hardware. We shall remain and see with SMTV.

Week 45 Breakdown:

PlayStation 4: Down in all regions

PlayStation 5: Down in all regions.

Xbox One: Down in all regions.

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

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

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We are now 2 weeks into November and we are getting into the territory where things start getting interesting.

The PS4 and Xbox One 2014 got HUGE bumps this week due to the release of COD: Advanced Warfare during this time in 2014. Due to the severe stock issues for the PS5 and Xbox Series, there's a good chance that its predecessors might have the advantage and ultimately the win in the last 2 months of the year depending on how limited the stock truly is.

The Nintendo Switch also has an interesting battle ahead of it. This week it was down again over last year, but there was no major, holiday title that would move tons of hardware last year (Sorry, Hyrule Warriors.) This year, they have Pokemon, which drops next week. Unless stock is more severe than I thought, I expect next week to be up for the Switch.

Given the chip shortage situation, it is guaranteed that Switch will be down YoY.  I also think PS4 2014 vs. PS5 2021 is going to be very close right until the end.  I can't tell which one is going to come out on top, but I do think PS4 2014 will continue to close the gap each week.

Out of the current consoles, the only one I see "winning" in your face-offs is X|S 2021.  It really is selling so much better than XB1 2014.

Week 46 Breakdown:

PlayStation 4: Down in all regions

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

Xbox One: Down in all regions.

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

Nintendo Switch: Up in all regions.

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It's the last stop before the train arrives to take us on the Holiday Season thrill ride from Black Friday to Christmas and we have a number of key events and milestones.

The Xbox Series has officially passed 6 million units sold worldwide on the year. A feat the Xbox One didn't accomplish until the 1st week of December, POST Black Friday. The Xbox Series managed to do it PRE Black Friday, despite severe shortages for the X model. Yet another testament to how for Microsoft has come since the pre-launch Xbox One dark days and how great they've done to right the ship. Hell, depending on shipments, they may even manage to top the PS5 in Japan for one week. This generation, while still favoring Sony, looks to be much closer than last gen.

The Switch saw the biggest boost of the 3, which shouldn't come as a shocker, Pokemon Gen 4 remakes will do that. BD/SP provided a big enough boost to where the Switch was able to outsell the PS5 and Xbox Series combined, and take over 100k off the deficit from last year.

All 3 systems are doing incredibly well and this is shaping up to be a Black Friday for the record books, in spite of the shortages... Just imagine what all 3 would be capable of if they weren't an issue. (Sigh) Oh well.

Here is one other thing to consider.  X|S is doing a lot better than XB1 and it still has supply in the US.  PS5 is definitely supply constrained everywhere, including the US.  Right now the total in the US is about 3.3m (PS5) vs. about 2.7m (X|S).  It's going to be close, but there is a decent chance that X|S finishes ahead of PS5 in the US at the end of the year. 

X|S is already looking to be significantly more competitive than XB1 and the US is XBox's best territory.

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.