This week saw the biggest Xbox leak ever when documents related to the FTC case against the Microsoft/Activision merger were accidentally made public. Among the information revealed were Microsoft’s plans for the next generation of gaming consoles, as well as the reveal of an all-digital Xbox Series X model in the works for 2024.
Another intriguing bit of information that was leaked was the rather stunning revelation that the Xbox Series S model—the more affordable though less powerful entry level iteration of the current-gen Xbox—has thus far outsold its Series X counterpart by a margin of 3 to 1.
For April 2022 Microsoft forecasted Xbox hardware sell in to be 64.9% Series S and 35.1% Series X.
Instead, the actuals were 74.8% Series S and 25.1% Series X.
That's a massive difference, fueled by the at the time extreme supply shortages thanks to the pandemic. pic.twitter.com/zdPYnFmUmH
— John Welfare (@Welfare_JBP) September 18, 2023
In other words, the Series S has accounted for a whopping 75% of Xbox Series sales as of April 2022. Granted, a lot of time has passed since then, but it seems unlikely that the ration has changed significantly since.
While the popularity of the Series S and its more attractive price tag isn’t too shocking, the margin by which it is outselling the powerful Series X comes at a surprise. However the more widespread availability of the Series S compared to Series X during the first two years on the market can be attributed for some of this.
