Xbox Series X|S vs Xbox 360 Sales Comparison - November 2021 - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 January 2022 / 8,476 Views
The VGChartz sales comparison series of articles are updated monthly and each one focuses on a different sales comparison using our estimated video game hardware figures. The charts include comparisons between the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch, as well as with older platforms. There are articles based on our worldwide estimates, as well as the US, Europe, and Japan.
This monthly series compares the aligned worldwide sales of the Xbox Series X|S and Xbox 360.
The Xbox Series X|S launched in November 2020, while the Xbox 360 launched in November 2005 in North America and December 2005 in Europe and Japan. This does mean the holiday periods for the two consoles do lineup.
XSX|S Vs. X360 Worldwide:
Gap change in latest month: 561,106 - XSX|S
Gap change over last 12 months: 2,532,392 - XSX|S
Total Lead: 3,894,377 - XSX|S
Xbox Series X|S Total Sales: 9,838,177
Xbox 360 Total Sales: 5,943,800
November 2021 is the 13th month the Xbox Series X|S has been available for. In the latest month, the gap grew in favor of the Xbox Series X|S when compared to the aligned launch of the Xbox 360 by 561,106 units and by 2.53 million units in the last year. The Xbox Series X|S is currently ahead by 3.89 million units.
The Xbox Series X|S has sold 9.84 million units in 13 months, while the Xbox 360 sold 5.94 million. million units. Month 13 for the Xbox Series X|S is November 2021 and for the Xbox One is November 2006.
The Xbox 360 did not reach current Xbox Series X|S sales until month 19 where it had sold 10.01 million units.
The Xbox 360 crossed 10 million units sold in month 19, 20 million in month 34, and 30 million in month 43. The Xbox 360 sold 85.81 million units lifetime.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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at the end of this generation these 2 systems will be close, series X/S just ahead
Without any new add-on or model it will be hard for Series X/S to beat X360. Though, upcoming exclusive software will surely help Microsoft in the next few years.
A strong launch really only provides a fairly solid view into the brands somewhat and really hardcore fans and their pleasure with the brands direction early in the new gen.
While it can also indicate long term success, that's not nearly as solid. We've seen consoles have rocky starts and make a reasonable if not strong comeback. Having a strong launch and then having it fade slightly or a lot is also a possibility.
The games, especially first party, will be an important deciding factor as to whether or not the existing trend continues for the XB Series consoles.
Could slow down. Could even accelerate.
With all they have revealed in the pipeline, and the positive reception of Halo's new direction and Forza Horizon 5 as a whole being an indication of quality...I think that the "lack of exclusives" narrative should be dead by the end of 2022. Especially if we get both Hellblade 2 and Starfield without a delay.
The competitions output, hardware and software, quantity and quality, also have to be taken into account. "Lack of exclusives" remains if the competitor increases output enough as well.
It looks great right now for all brands, but so did the world pre 2020.
We'll see how it all plays out.
Sony isn't really increasing their 1st party output however. In fact, people seemed suprised when all three of Sony's actual heavy hitters got delayed out of 2021 (not sure why, it was obvious they were announced early for hype). They will likely release their games at the same pace we saw with the PS4, as they have shown no signs of increasing their software output at all. Which is fine because they already had decent output.
Meanwhile MS has increased its 1st party studio arsenal more than just buying devs that only make games for their platform anyway (which is what Sony did), with Bethesda playing no small role in that. It is pretty clear to see why that narratives will be dead by the end of 2022 if it isn't already, as both consoles will have good 1st party output moving forward.
So PS games have been delayed, and that definitely means there won't end up more output as the gen goes on, just bunched together due to the earlier delays? You assumed XB future first party will be bright(er), why not SNY's?
How many new Bethesda games are out now, exclusive to XB, and how many are known to be coming?
MS has more devs than they did last gen. Sony has the same devs, minus Sony Japan, and any acquisitions they made either are not focused on game output, or already made exclusive games for PS. It is simple math, and you are trying to dance around that. The first year has nothing to do with either.
None of the new PS studios can or will be producing their own games?
The growth of a bunch of the existing PS studios won't lead to faster output or more games?
So SNY is just passing out free money then?
I believe at least one of them will be porting older games to PC, and newer ones will replace studios that have been closed (like Sony Japan).
And really, Bethesda alone has expanded MS Studios far more than any acquisition Sony has made. Probably even eclipses any expansion they have done with other studios (which is likely to be offset by increased dev cost for high budget titles rather than increasing Sony's 1st party output).
That does not even factor other acquisitions MS have made, or expansions of the pre existing studios as well. Like I said, it is simple math.
Your math lacks numbers...
Simple logic.
Google has the numbers. The expansion of studios for MS compared to Sony is pretty common knowledge and so easy to look up.
Everything points to MS giving us more exclusives at a higher rate compared to last gen, and Sony being roughly the same (which is not really bad to begin with).
Stadia is weak.
Some thought everything pointed to XBSX clearly being able to outperform the PS5 with ease, yet they're about as close to being on par as it gets.
What does Stadia have to do with any other this?
And the people who thought the XSX was miles ahead of PS5 in power are just as bad as when the otherside acted like the faster SSD was some kind of secret sauce that would put it ahead of the XSX. Realists always knew the gap wpuod be minimal.
But expansion of studios, acquisitions with active projects, and overall growth from one gen to the next...this topic is a lot more black and white with less shades of gray than the power debate.
You brought up Google and it's numbers. Stadia is weak sauce.
The games that are being made, known and unknown, plus new IP being thought up or brought in, is more solid than specs?
I said google has the numbers...as in search them they are easy to find...never said anything about that Stadia dumpster fire.
The rising cost of development offsetting studio expansions and the increase in the number of overall studios with MS are far more solid than secret sauce claims for why one console might be far more powerful than the other (when in reality they are closer than they have ever been spec wise).
Well the 'math' there was a little hard to follow.
In reality we have no idea what we're going to get 2022 and beyond. We can guess, using available info and leaks, etc, like secret sauce, so maybe there will be a bunch more delays for XB and PS games next year? That would be a first.
It's 13 months past launch day, with stronger sales than any previous Xbox consoles, and despite that more pent-up demand waiting to be fulfilled than any previous Xbox had 13 months in. I think the Xbox Series consoles have established themselves as likely to be the most successful line-up of Xbox consoles yet. Anything else seems unreasonably pessimistic to me, given all the advantages they have (the most powerful current-gen console, and the least expensive/smallest current-gen consoles, plus Game Pass).
Explain PS3's poor launch and strong comeback. Explain XB1's poor launch and reasonable comeback.
Both should've been doomed and long forgotten before the gen was over as to their launches, based on this mindset.
All PS5's being the same is as advantage. Is that totally separate, or does it negate the multiple XB Series consoles? PS5 matches XBSX real world output overall. Advantage due to lesser hardware or nullified?
I feel like your knowledge on Xbox is just not nearly as good compared to Sony. XB1 certainly didn't have a poor launch, with it having one of the best console launch numbers of any console before it. Then sales dwindled afterwards with steady, but average numbers throughout the generation. Certainly not a comeback.
So a new gen can have a strong launch and then decline after with no comeback?
That's ridiculous.
XB Series has had a strong launch and it's definitely going to remain strong if not gain momentum from here on out. It's the only logical conclusion. No chance it will decline. None.
I'm not going to get into it with you about your Xbox takes. I'm only correcting what you said about the XB1 sales. Nothing more.
PS3 price cut
Xbox1 Kinect elimination
So you're saying things can change? No kidding. Well you learn something new every day.
You're comparing just the launches of the PS3 and XB1 (the latter of which you've got wrong), against a much longer period of time (currently 13.75 months from launch, and with intense pent-up demand). There certainly wasn't intense unfulfilled pent-up demand for PS3 or XBO VCR 13-14 months after launch.
Of course something can start strong and peter out. Of course something can start out weak, and then mount a long-earned comeback. My point is that the Xbox Series consoles not only have the strongest launch of any line-up of Xbox consoles, but we're way past what would be considered the launch window of any previous Xbox and there's still intense unfulfilled demand. We didn't have either this strong a start, nor this level of intense unfulfilled demand, with the OG Xbox, the 360, or the Xbox One, not this far after launch day. And the pent-up demand's likely to last at least until early 2023, meaning more than two years from launch before there's even a realistic chance of supply meeting demand.
If I had decided it was a Series X or nothing, I'd still be waiting as I haven't had an opportunity to buy one at MSRP yet (and I refuse to enrich a scalper)! So rather than wait I went with a Series S, and even then I couldn't get one right at launch. I just checked, and currently half of the big online stores in my country are sold out of Series S units, which has been typical for many months (which half of them are sold out, and which half of them have them in stock, changes every time I look), so even Series S demand isn't fully satisfied yet globally, let alone Series X (which isn't even close to satisfied).
You're begging the question when you assert that all PS5s being the same is an advantage, as you're building upon an unproven assumption. I disagree that all PS5s being the same is a net advantage. Instead, I would argue there are advantages to Sony's approach, and advantages to Microsoft's approach, and which ends up being the bigger advantage is not yet proven.
And Digital Foundry in their year-end review for 2021 asserted that it's their professional opinion that there's more un-used headroom to explore and potentially utilize on Xbox Series consoles than there is on PS5, especially on the compression block side of things (but also on utilizing the full RDNA2 feature set), even on Series S. I'll take their opinion on this subject over either yours or mine. :)
I think this generation will beat the 360 easily. My thinking is this:
-
Whereas die shrinks came fast and furious during the PS360 generation, last generation they were fewer, and they should remain fewer this generation. Microsoft says that they A) don't expect as many die-shrinks this generation, and that B) they expect the few they may see will see performance gains but not price reductions (as these die-shrinks will be to processes so small that they may actually cost more per chip, not less). It was these reasons that prompted Microsoft to make the Series S, since they felt it would be an unreasonable period of time before the Series X dropped significantly in price, and keeping the Xbox One line-up around as a budget option was unappealing (no SSD, no ray-tracing, terrible CPUs, etc.).
- This generation may last as long, if not longer, than the PS360 generation. The lack of significant price reductions (see above) will interfere with the ability to either replace the current gen, or do mid-gen refreshes. I think we will get mid-gen refreshes, but I think they'll come later than did the PS4 Pro or the One X.
What we may see [with xbox] is more variations on the sku. Meaning that the current ones on the market would likely get replaced with ones with larger capacity internal storage. something the PS5 may not be so inclined to offer. MS using a socket for its NVME makes it possible for them to have units down the line with 2tb or more as the time goes on. Which will also drive down the cost of the existing units.
Sony made it clear their SSD was limited based on their design but they could very well introduce a unit with the expansion slot filled so there is no guess work on the part of the consumer. That wont really drive down the price of the existing units because it isnt replacing (so to speak), but adding on so they would still have to take that original cost into consideration.
I read the article people point to in suggesting that 825 GB was a design choice, not a cost-cutting measure. And I don't agree. Either we're misunderstanding the article, or they're talking out of both sides of their mouth. If 825 GB is important, why don't they recommend all expansion drives be 825 GB? Why do expansion drives often outperform the internal drive (especially on write speeds)?
Even after reading what Sony said about it, I don't see any reason the stock drive on the PS5 can't be smaller if they want to do a budget PS5 SKU (add a second drive if and when you can afford it and need it), or larger if they want a deluxe PS5 SKU.
It would be great to see a comparison of the original Xbox, 360, One and Series.
The final result is gonna be between 75 and 90 million, most probably.
