Switch Outsells PS5 as Zelda Boosts Sales - Europe Hardware Estimates for May 2023 - Sales

Tweet

The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in Europe with 371,758 units sold for May 2023, according to VGChartz estimates. The Nintendo Switch has now sold an estimated 32.30 million units lifetime in Europe.

The PlayStation 5 sold an estimated 333,075 units to bring its lifetime sales to 11.68 million units. The Xbox Series X|S sold 120,155 units to bring their lifetime sales to 5.98 million units. The PlayStation 4 sold an estimated 3,272 units to bring its lifetime sales to 45.84 million units.

PS5 sales compared to the same month for the PS4 in 2016 are down by nearly 11,000 units, while the Xbox Series X|S compared to the same month for the Xbox One are up by over 31,000 units. PS4 sold 343,930 units for the month of April 2016 and Xbox One sales were at 88,787 units.

PlayStation 5 sales compared to the same month a year ago are up by 122,998 (58.6%). Nintendo Switch sales are up by 92,629 units (33.2%) and Xbox Series X|S sales are down by 27,412 units (-18.6%). The PlayStation 4 is down 1,542 units (-32.0%) year-over-year.

Looking at sales month-on-month, Nintendo Switch sales are up by nearly 40,000 units, PlayStation 5 sales are down by over 106,000 units, and Xbox Series X|S sales are up by nearly 19,000 units. 

2023 year-to-date, the PlayStation 5 has sold an estimated 2.18 million units, the Nintendo Switch has sold 1.52 million units, and the Xbox Series X|S has sold 0.57 million units.

Monthly Sales:

Europe hardware estimates for May 2023 (Followed by lifetime sales):

1. Switch - 371,758 (32,301,107)
2. PlayStation 5 - 333,075 (11,681,176)
3. Xbox Series X|S - 120,155 (5,977,429)
4. PlayStation 4 - 3,272 (45,838,511)

Weekly Sales:

Europe May 6, 2023 hardware estimates:

1. Switch - 95,759
2. PlayStation 5 - 88,100
3. Xbox Series X|S - 27,503
4. PlayStation 4 - 859

Europe May 13, 2023 hardware estimates:

1. Switch - 111,490
2. PlayStation 5 - 85,414
3. Xbox Series X|S - 29,160
4. PlayStation 4 - 833

Europe May 20, 2023 hardware estimates:

1. Switch - 86,218
2. PlayStation 5 - 79,146
3. Xbox Series X|S - 30,776
4. PlayStation 4 - 806

Europe May 27, 2023 hardware estimates:

1. PlayStation 5 - 80,415
2. Switch - 78,291
3. Xbox Series X|S - 32,716
4. PlayStation 4 - 774

VGChartz Methodology: Hardware estimates are based on retail sampling and trends in individual countries, which are then extrapolated to represent the wider region. This typically allows us to produce figures that end up being within 10% of the actual totals.

This data is regularly compared against official shipment figures released by the console manufacturers and figures estimated by regional trackers with greater market coverage than ourselves. We then update our own estimates to bring them into line with those figures. This can result in frequent changes often within a short space of time, but we feel it's important to prioritise accuracy over consistency.

Note that our estimates are based on sell-through data (units sold to consumers). In almost all cases the figures released by console manufacturers are based on shipment data (sell-in), where as soon as a device has left the factory and entered the supply chain for delivery it is considered a sale. This is why there is always a difference between the companies’ figures (sell-in) and VGChartz estimates (sell-through), even after we’ve made adjustments. The one exception to that is when a console has been discontinued and the remaining stock has finally sold out – at that point the figures will match.

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 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

More Articles

31 Comments

Sort by Highest Rated

• Newest
• Oldest
• Highest Rated
• Lowest Rated

Bofferbrauer2 (on 09 June 2023)

Switch outselling a Playstation at it's prime during it's 7th year on the market. If you had told this to anybody 5 years ago, they'd probably call you crazy.

• +14

Garrus Bofferbrauer2 (on 10 June 2023)

It's not outselling the Playstation, it outsold it for one month in Europe when the Zelda console launched. We just saw the charts last month and PS5 sold 7 million, and Switch around 4 million, this year so far.

• -10

2zosteven Garrus (on 10 June 2023)

100% correct, Zelda TOTK just released and more than likely game of the year!

• 0

Kakadu18 Garrus (on 10 June 2023)

Yes it outsold the PS5. In May! That should be pretty clear that this is just about that month.

• +1

masschamber Garrus (on 11 June 2023)

amazing how you rounded 6.8 to 70 and 5 to 4,

• +1

Garrus masschamber (on 11 June 2023)

it's called math, 4.3 is rounded down to 4, correctly...

not sure what the problem is, go read the article on this website a second time

• -4

scottslater (on 09 June 2023)

I thought TotK would be a system seller, but not at this level.

• +12

xgamerx (on 10 June 2023)

so playstation so far this generation has lost market share in Europe to xbox?

• +3

Slownenberg (on 10 June 2023)

PS5 may have showing off in sales the first few months of this year as it caught up on the pent up demand finally, but with Zelda in May Nintendo is showing off the Switch can still compete for top dog in its 7th year.

• +2

siebensus4 (on 09 June 2023)

Switch being up 33 % y-o-y is insane while the console is in its 7th year.

• +2

Garrus siebensus4 (on 10 June 2023)

it's not up year over year, it is up for this month, year over year, not the same thing

• -8

siebensus4 Garrus (on 10 June 2023)

I was referring to the same month a year ago, as mentioned in the article.

• +4

masschamber Garrus (on 10 June 2023)

Yes yes everyone's aware of your strange switch hate boner

• +3

Garrus masschamber (on 11 June 2023)

it's not hate, i'm correcting the false statements

it isn't insane to be up a month, year over year, since a major title released, Zelda... context matters

• -10

Kakadu18 Garrus (on 11 June 2023)

Nobody was talking about anything being up over last year YTD. This article is about May and when someone says "wow, it's up yoy" it doesn't mean they're talking about the first five months.

• +3

Garrus Kakadu18 (on 11 June 2023)

there was a limited edition zelda console released, that's not insane, it sold well for a month, that's all

• -4

Kakadu18 Garrus (on 11 June 2023)

I know. It was expected.

• 0

Mars2001 (on 09 June 2023)

Switch in 7th year win when others consoles stop in only 5th year like ps4.Switch about 130M until end of June

• +1

Amnesia (on 09 June 2023)

The PS5 is so strong that TotK just barely allowed the Switch to temporary come back at the same level of sales.

• -21

Doctor_MG Amnesia (on 09 June 2023)

PS5 is approaching it's bell curve crest whereas Switch should be heading towards its tail trough. This is a case of Switch sales being so strong, not PS5.

• +9

Comment was deleted...

Garrus Doctor_MG (on 09 June 2023)

We only have 2 full data points for the PS5, 2021, and 2022, and in both cases sales were almost exactly 13 million each year. No increase, no decrease, just 13 million one year, 13 million the next year. That's a flat line, not a bell curve, you can't just fit everything to a bell curve.

• -6

Doctor_MG Garrus (on 09 June 2023)

It's a presumed bell curve due to the overwhelming amount of past historical data that we have to draw from where just about every successful console follows a bell curve like format.

Last year was stifled due to shortages.

• +10

Garrus Doctor_MG (on 10 June 2023)

no console sales do not follow a bell curve, a bell curve is a statistical probability curve, it isn't about demand for products and sales, and it looks totally different

• -2

Garrus Doctor_MG (on 11 June 2023)

i mean the fact that you got upvoted over a totally false statement, your statement should have been "sales go up, then they go down" ... whatever LMAO

• -2

Kakadu18 Garrus (on 11 June 2023)

That is exactly what a bell curve is. It goes up, has a peak, then goes down. It can go down as fast as it went up, slower or faster. It's still a bell curve because it's generally shaped like a bell. Bell curves are not exclusively used for statistical probabilities.

• +1

Garrus Kakadu18 (on 11 June 2023)

no that's not what a bell curve is, and console sales are not symmetrical

oh god, I have a degree in statistics, never mind... can't help some people

YOU CAN LITERALLY LOOK UP THE SALES DATA, IT DOES NOT LOOK LIKE A BELL CURVE, NOT EVEN CLOSE

LMAO

• -2

Kakadu18 Garrus (on 11 June 2023)

I didn't say it's symmetrical. I literally said it can be anything but that.

• +1

Doctor_MG Garrus (on 11 June 2023)

I never said it was an actual normal distribution. I said that it's a bell curve like format. Lots of things simulate normal distributions that aren't. And you can clearly see bell curve like structures when visualizing sales data for hardware.

In other words, you're arguing semantics when it's not about the meaning of a bell curve, but it's shape.

• +3

PAOerfulone Amnesia (on 09 June 2023)

The PS5 is about to enter its prime while the Switch is already past its.
If the PS5 in Year 3 can't match or exceed the Switch in Year 7, then Sony is doing something wrong.

• +14

SanAndreasX PAOerfulone (on 10 June 2023)

Or Nintendo is doing something right.

Or a combination of both.

• +10