Microsoft’s game-focused strategy with the Xbox Series consoles, under Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer’s leadership, alongside Microsoft’s scooping up of game studios including Bethesda, among other innovations, appear to be paying off, as NPD reports that Xbox Series X|S were the highest-grossing consoles in the United States in June, using dollar sales as the metric.
US NPD HW – June dollar sales of Xbox consoles set a new record for the Xbox platform, besting the previous high set in June 2011.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) July 16, 2021
Current data aside, the Xbox platform also beat its previous dollar sale record, set in June 2011 during the Xbox 360-era.
Despite Xbox’s strong figures, Nintendo’s Switch remains the top-selling console in terms of devices sold, with the console being the most sold of 2021 so far, whether you look at it from a dollar sale or number of units sold point of view. For Sony’s PlayStation 5, it remains the fastest-selling console in US history, if portable consoles are excluded, for its first 8 months.
Overall, the video gaming market continues to perform well, with video game hardware sales jumping by 112% in June 2021 compared to June 2020, reaching a total of $401 million, but this falls short of the $617m figure achieved in June 2008.
Rare’s Sea of Thieves, published by Xbox Game Studios, saw a healthy jump in the game charts in June, rising from 36th place to the top 20, no doubt the Pirates of the Caribbean expansion release helped increase interest in the game. Sony’s ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart was the best-selling game in June, but keep in mind that it launched in June; it hit an all-time record of dollar sales in a game’s launch month of any title in franchise history.
