I'd say it was a good December in the Americas for all 3. Less so in other regions. Though PS5 did great YoY in Europe. Japan was weird. 

Engagement numbers suggest that Starfield dropped like a rock.

Link to VGChartz article here.

PS5 vs Xbox Series X|S vs Switch 2023 Americas Sales Comparison Charts Through December

Here we see data representing the sales through to consumers and change in sales performance of the three current platforms (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch) and two legacy platforms (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) over comparable periods for 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Also shown is the market share for each of the consoles over the same periods.

Year to Date Sales Comparison (Same Periods Covered)

Market Share (Same Periods Covered)

2020 – (January 2020 to December 2020)

2021 – (January 2021 to December 2021)

2022 – (January 2022 to December 2022)

2023 – (January 2023 to December 2023)

"Year to date" sales for 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 sales are shown in series at the top of the table and then just below a comparison of 2023 versus 2022 and 2023 versus 2021 is displayed.  This provides an easy-to-view summary of all the data.

Total Sales and Market Share for Each Year

Microsoft

• Xbox Series X|S
• 4.65 million units sold year-to-date
• Down year-on-year 712,888 units (-13.3%)

Nintendo

• Nintendo Switch
• 5.70 million units sold year-to-date
• Down year-on-year 1,256,279 units (-18%)

Sony

• PlayStation 5
• 7.93 million units sold year-to-date
• Up year-on-year 1,181,353 units (17.5%)
• PlayStation 4
• 0.09 million units sold year-to-date
• Up year-on-year 12,508 (16.5%)

Worldwide Hardware Estimates for December 2023

Link to VGChartz article here.

PS5 Sells 3.71M, PS5 and XS Sales Climb YoY - Worldwide Hardware Estimates for December 2023

The PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console worldwide with 3,714,932 units sold for December 2023, according to VGChartz estimates. The PlayStation 5 has now sold an estimated 52.65 million units lifetime worldwide.

The Nintendo Switch sold an estimated 3,181,704 units to bring its lifetime sales to 136.26 million units. The Xbox Series X|S sold 1,854,862 units to bring their lifetime sales to 27.23 million units. The PlayStation 4 sold an estimated 28,240 units to bring its lifetime sales to 117.15 million units.

PS5 sales compared to the same month for the PS4 in 2016 are down by over 889,000 units, while the Xbox Series X|S compared to the same month for the Xbox One are down by nearly 899,000 units. PS4 sold 4,604,141 units for the month of December 2016 and Xbox One sales were at 2,753,607 units.

PlayStation 5 sales compared to the same month a year ago are up by 641,024 (20.9%). Xbox Series X|S sales are up by 267,826 units (16.9%) and Nintendo Switch sales are down by 913,986 units (-22.3%). The PlayStation 4 is down by 28,801 units (-50.5%) year-over-year.

Looking at sales month-on-month, PlayStation 5 sales are up by over 169,000 units, Xbox Series X|S sales are up by nearly 824,000 units, and Nintendo Switch sales are up by over 1,501,000 units. 

2023 year-to-date, the PlayStation 5 has sold an estimated 21.64 million units, the Nintendo Switch has sold 15.90 million units, and the Xbox Series X|S has sold 7.50 million units.

Check out the breakdown of the Americas sales here, the Europe sales here, and the Japan sales here.

Monthly Sales:

Global hardware estimates for December 2023 (Followed by lifetime sales):

1. PlayStation 5 - 3,714,932 (52,647,376)
2. Switch - 3,181,704 (136,258,010)
3. Xbox Series X|S - 1,854,862 (27,228,480)
4. PlayStation 4 - 28,240 (117,149,072)

Weekly Sales:

Global December 2, 2023 hardware estimates:

1. PlayStation 5 - 790,061
2. Switch - 687,855
   
3. Xbox Series X|S - 434,339
4. PlayStation 4 - 5,385
   

Global December 9, 2023 hardware estimates:

1. PlayStation 5 - 728,314
2. Switch - 626,579
   
3. Xbox Series X|S - 359,239
4. PlayStation 4 - 6,599

Global December 16, 2023 hardware estimates:

1. PlayStation 5 - 826,036
2. Switch - 670,660
   
3. Xbox Series X|S - 389,822
4. PlayStation 4 - 7,245

Global December 23, 2023 hardware estimates:

1. PlayStation 5 - 894,005
2. Switch - 783,143
   
3. Xbox Series X|S - 456,716
4. PlayStation 4 - 5,703

Global December 30, 2023 hardware estimates:

1. PlayStation 5 - 476,516
2. Switch - 413,467
   
3. Xbox Series X|S - 214,746
4. PlayStation 4 - 3,308

The most the PS4 ever outsold the XBO by in a year was by 116% and 10.6m units in 2017.
The most the PS3 ever outsold the 360 by in a year was by 25% and 2.7m units in 2009.

This year the PS5 has outsold the XBS by 189% and 14.1m units. The gap between PlayStation and Xbox hasn't been this wide since the PS2 days.

PS5's December was weaker than I was expecting but overall 2023 was still an amazing year for it. This year should be down due to pent up demand being fulfilled and the price increase but at worst it should sell a similar amount as to what the PS4 did in 2017. Switch had a strong December to end its last big year and stuff like TOTK really helped keep the decline from being big. Xbox had a relatively decent month compared to the rest of its 2023 but still your third full year being your worst yet is a rough sign. Hopefully its first party games are better received this year to help keep things at least flat.

Link to VGChartz article here.

PS5 vs Xbox Series X|S vs Switch 2023 Worldwide Sales Comparison Charts Through December

Here we see data representing the sales through to consumers and change in sales performance of the three current platforms (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch) and two legacy platforms (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One) over comparable periods for 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Also shown is the market share for each of the consoles over the same periods.

Year to Date Sales Comparison (Same Periods Covered)

Market Share (Same Periods Covered)

2020 – (January 2020 to December 2020)

2021 – (January 2021 to December 2021)

2022 – (January 2022 to December 2022)

2023 – (January 2023 to December 2023)

"Year to date" sales for 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 sales are shown in series at the top of the table and then just below a comparison of 2023 versus 2022 and 2023 versus 2021 is displayed.  This provides an easy-to-view summary of all the data.

Total Sales and Market Share for Each Year

Microsoft

• Xbox Series X|S
• 7.50 million units sold year-to-date
• Down year-on-year 1,157,528 units (-13.4%)

Nintendo

• Nintendo Switch
• 15.90 million units sold year-to-date
• Down year-on-year 3,138,573 units (-16.5%)

Sony

• PlayStation 5
• 21.64 million units sold year-to-date
• Up year-on-year 7,720,610 units (55.5%)
• PlayStation 4
• 0.26 million units sold year-to-date
• Up year-on-year 16,417 (6.8%)

Xbox being down at all in Year 3 is bad, but at least it's not down as much as it seemed it would be, thanks to a decent December after a pretty miserable November.

Switch's decline of 16.5% is admirable, a much more graceful downward slope than is usual for Nintendo hardware. It will need replacing soon, but at least it hasn't rotted on the vine.

The thing about December is that they had some pretty drastic deals in order to hit those numbers, I believe S went as low as $149.99 & X was $349.99.

If you need $150 discounts in your 3rd year to hit “decent” numbers than I’m not sure the future is looking too bright.

Xbox won't have a future at all if they can't secure killer games. There's only so long you can sell hardware on the promise that maybe someday things will get better. They're running out of time to right the ship before it capsizes for good.