What we're seeing right now is purely a reflection of stock

And that's a shame as it'd actually be great to see how demand varied between the the 2 systems, what Impact Halo and Forza has had this winter etc. Also the impact Playstation is going to have from Its big Q1 line up: Horizon, GT7

I agree with the gains going back and forth.  Playstation has a 3 big hitters coming out in 2022 (Horizon, GT7, and GoW).  If the stock is there, PS5 will move some hardware with those releases.  But I do expect those gains to be temporary, especially going into Q3.  I'm not sure is Playstation will be attending E3 in 2022, but Xbox will.  Xbox will be building the hype for Starfield and just that alone will begin moving hardware in preparation for it's holiday release (barring stock).  I'm not expecting big movements with Stalker 2 or Redfall,  but with a steady release of 1st party games from that point on by Xbox, the back and forth may tighten.

PS5 has always done well with Japanese RPG's and will garner my business there.  And where as those games use to be considered niche, popularity has only increased in the West for them.  So man, I don't know, but it will be fun to watch.

Stock hurt all consoles and the PC market, and 2022 isn't looking much better for those issues to be resolved. We may have to wait till 2023 or beyond before stock returns to some kind of normality.  Hopefully the interest and demand will still be there by then.

Competition is a good thing. I hope Xbox does better this generation. I suspect MS is in a good spot, I think Betheseda will have a lot of PC/xbox exclusives not on ps5, which will be good for hardware sales. Elder Scrolls 6 not hitting the ps5 could have significant impact.

Isn't that like...all Xbox Series and PS5 sales to date? This entire generation so far is a reflection of stock.

Series S demand was lower, has been picking up in Q4. Series S has been available here in stores since summer and is still available right now. It was sold out briefly around Black Friday. Series X and PS5 are only possible to get on reservation, online if you're lucky to catch a stock drop.

Mostly just a shipping war instead of console war.

Mostly, although there was plenty of Series S stock floating about before November

I don't think anyone has said that? But conversation about Xbox doing better than Playstation  in NA was spurred by recent sale comparisons which was dictated by stock (or lack of), so that seems premature. There is obviously demand for xbox Series and there's no denying that. Its deservingly doing way better than Xbox One.

I'm thinking about picking up the Series S, I see Gamestop will give $200 for my old Xbox one S, so for a $100 plus tax that isn't too bad. It's not really a need, and I don't play enough Xbox to justify buying the Series X.