How are sales of major solo titles distributed between PS5 and Xbox Series X/S? Current figures from the industry provide an assessment of this. They follow a rumored 8:1 ratio in the case of “GTA 6”.
Christopher Dring, journalist at The Game Business, based on global sales data on the distribution of major AAA games on Sony and Microsoft expressed. According to this, single-player titles are sold predominantly on Sony hardware when they go on sale, including Sony hardware PS5.
This is how sales are distributed according to Dring
Dring calls in an X post a margin of up to 80 percent in favor of Sony consoles. “A new AAA single-player console game typically generates around 75 to 80 percent of its revenue (at launch) on the PlayStation compared to the Xbox. For online multiplayer games, the figure is often lower,” he wrote.
When asked, Dring explained that he had obtained the results from various sources, that they apply worldwide and also cover Microsoft’s sales. “It’s based on pretty much every data provider I have access to… I averaged it out. Microsoft shares the sales numbers with GSD. And I have a lot of this data going back a few years.”
When it comes to the sale of data storage media in stores, the gap is apparently even greater. One follower, citing a retailer, said: “It looks even worse with physical copies. A retailer told me that the ratio for games like RE9 is often well over 1 to 10. For GTA (even though it’s just a code) it’s 1 to 13 for the PS5. Xbox players simply don’t buy anything in brick-and-mortar stores anymore.”
Dring attributed this partly to the initial popularity of the cheaper Series S variant, which was brought onto the market without a drive. Here players rely on digital distribution.
Significantly more PS5 consoles on the market
As already mentioned, a key factor is the installed base. The PS5 is coming more than 93.7 million deliverieswhile the Xbox Series X/S could be around 35 to 40 million copies. Sony was also ahead when it came to last-gen consoles.
Microsoft does not release official figures. But in 2023, Microsoft’s new acquisition Activision Blizzard admitted that Sony’s market share which the Redmonder exceeds by far. This has a corresponding impact on game sales.
Another point is the orientation of the providers. Game Pass has changed the purchasing behavior of many Xbox users, while Sony has been focused on narrative brands like „God of War“ and „The Last of Us“ sets. This makes the PlayStation an obvious platform for solo gaming. At the same time, Sony is finding it more difficult to position itself more broadly in the area of live service titles. Nevertheless, the Japanese want to stick to it:
Reference to GTA 6 and Microsoft’s reaction
The reason for Dring’s post was apparently a report from IGN. The site had claimed, based on its own affiliate data, that the PS5 version of „GTA 6“ sell in a ratio of 8:1 better than the Xbox version. Microsoft rejected these figures in a statement.
The new information from Dring suggests that the actual ratio is probably slightly lower and could be closer to 5:1. Ultimately, it should come as no surprise to anyone that an open-world game initially designed for the single-player part with strong marketing support from Sony is best sold on the more popular PS5.
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