PS5 Sales Crash Following Price Increase - Europe Hardware Estimates for April 2026 - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted 3 days ago / 11,727 Views
The Nintendo Switch 2 was the best-selling console in Europe with 196,359 units sold for April 2026, according to VGChartz estimates. The Switch 2 has sold 4.53 million units lifetime.
The PlayStation 5 was the second best-selling console with an estimated 135,985 units sold to bring lifetime sales to 32.48 million units. The Nintendo Switch 1 was the third best-selling console with an estimated 30,950 units sold to bring lifetime sales to 39.78 million units. The Xbox Series X|S came in fourth place with 23,699 units sold to bring its lifetime sales to 8.60 million units.
Switch 2 sales compared to the same month for the Switch 1 in 2018 are up by nearly 14,000 units as the Switch 1 sold 182,791 units in Europe in April 2018.
PS5 sales compared to the same month for the PS4 in 2019 are down by over 234,000 units, while the Xbox Series X|S compared to the same month for the Xbox One are down by over 52,000 units. PS4 sold 370,267 units for the month of April 2019 and Xbox One sales were at 75,768 units.
PlayStation 5 sales compared to the same month a year ago are down by 92,304 (-40.4%). Xbox Series X|S sales are down by 25,198 units (-51.5%) and Nintendo Switch 1 sales are down by 62,011 units (-66.7%).
Looking at sales month-on-month, Switch 2 sales are down by nearly 248,000 units, PlayStation 5 sales are down by nearly 128,000 units, Xbox Series X|S sales are down by nearly 5,000 units, and Nintendo Switch 1 sales are down by over 2,000 units.
2026 year-to-date, the Nintendo Switch 2 has sold an estimated 0.94 million units, the PlayStation 5 has sold 0.77 million units, the Nintendo Switch 1 has sold 0.14 million units, and the Xbox Series X|S has sold 0.09 million units.
Monthly Sales:
Europe hardware estimates for April 2026 (Followed by lifetime sales):
- Switch 2 - 196,359 (4,526,608)
- PlayStation 5 - 135,985 (32,479,835)
- Switch 1 - 30,950 (39,776,006)
- Xbox Series X|S - 23,699 (8,599,967)
Weekly Sales:
Europe April 11, 2026 hardware estimates:
- Switch 2 - 54,738
- PlayStation 5 - 36,669
- Switch 1 - 7,410
- Xbox Series X|S - 6,269
Europe April 18, 2026 hardware estimates:
- Switch 2 - 51,155
- PlayStation 5 - 35,686
- Switch 1 - 7,629
- Xbox Series X|S - 5,700
Europe April 25, 2026 hardware estimates:
- Switch 2 - 46,501
- PlayStation 5 - 31,779
- Switch 1 - 7,914
- Xbox Series X|S - 5,928
Europe May 2, 2026 hardware estimates:
- Switch 2 - 43,965
- PlayStation 5 - 31,851
- Switch 1 - 7,997
- Xbox Series X|S - 5,802
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 follow the author on Bluesky.
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If the PS5 can't reign in Europe, which historically is Sonyland, it is in deep trouble.
PS4 (Pro) in April 2019: 299€ (399€).
PS5 (Pro) in April 2026: 649€ (899€).
Resulting in PS5 being down a whooping 234K compared to PS4.
Man, if Sony really CAN'T go down with these prices, they literally must be fuming in Tokyo about the stuff that's going on with everything.
Well we always ask ourselfs how much the costumer can endure this prices, now we have an answer and if things get worse we might see a collapse in consoles sales, more than we got in April.
Europe May 2, 2026 hardware estimates:
PlayStation 5 - 43,965
Switch 2 - 31,851
Switch 1 - 7,997
Xbox Series X|S - 5,802
Aren't the PS5 and SW2 swapped?
Oof! That is a steep drop for PS5 this month! Especially when compared with the PS4 during the same time frame!
I was expecting Sony to retake the crown this month.
Once the switch lite is discontinued there will be no affordable options left to get into gaming.
Yeah, if you want to game below $400, a version of the Ayaneo Pocket pretty much becomes the only option by that point apart gaming on the smartphone.
Thanks for hogging all the RAM and memory parts, AI data centres.
Price hike Jump scare?
Why is it called a crash for PS5 but not for Switch 2 and Xbox despite "crashing" too
vgchartz is now compromised or what, FUDster eh?
The Switch 2 isn't crashing.
Man. Both Sony and MS (With XBSX) overengineered their consoles competing with each other to the extent that, they lose mass market viability when component costs increase.
I dont know about that.
Its commercial success is as a result of its features which enabled the software we've gotten and the user experience we've gotten.
I dont think it makes sense to ignore that and write off its well received and demonstrably well thought out design as over engineered due to unprecedented end of gen economic conditions.
Its features have become the standard for consoles and arent extravagant or excessive. Theyre commonly engaged with and people and developers see value in them. So over engineered is the wrong description in my opinion.
Well the Series S is inferior by a big margin and GTA 6 is still coming to that. So, if Series S was the only baseline hardware required for that then I think anything more powerful than Series S was overengineering. You're probably thinking "not everything is about GTA 6", but you'll see just how big it is when it comes out, and how much it will achieve more for Playstation single handedly, than 5-10 of their own first party titles.
GTA 6 isnt going to make PS5 sell another 90 million. Its done that off the back of the decisions Sony has made to date.
Series S in conjunction with Series X have sold like 35 million in 5 and a half years. It shouldnt be upheld as an example of exemplary decision-making.
Sony have done just fine this generation in terms of commercial success and if they were never to sell another PS5 they could coast on software and subscription sales until the release of PS6 in 2028/29.
Its success and the engagement from consumer and developer doesnt support a conclusion of over engineering.
Don't get me wrong. PS5 has been successful, but I still believe Sony would have designed it differently if it wasn't for the competition from MS. You can tell how they pushed too hard for performance with things like, using liquid metal. Was that really necessary? Only for it to compete with XBSX it was
Using liquid metal along was a response to heating probems that had occured in previous consoles and costing between 25/50 cents per unit was pretty cheap.
It's not practical though. There's a reason both MS and Nintendo don't use it. It's caused failures because it leaks out when console in standing vertical. They clearly wanted to push PS5 to it's limit
Like I said Playstation had a history with heating the PS4 had really loud fan noise , so even though the PS5 was less powerful than the series x , they went with a combination of a large console for air movement Liquid metal and a huge heatsink to combat the issue . the clumping issue that occured on upright standing consoles has been fixed in later models. You could say that they overengineered the problem rather than blaming it on a console arms race .
I think dismissing the arms race is wrong. Sony knows MS is a rich and fierce competitor, who has the money to outspend them when it comes to developing hardware. You can't afford to ignore power in this battle because if you do there's a chance that the other platform might become the lead platform for development, even if it has less sales than the other one. Look at PS5 and Switch. PS5 always remained lead platform despite having much lower total sales.
Next gen we will see a change in strategy from Sony. It's going to much much cheaper and weaker next gen (relative to how powerful PS5 was when it launched), and this will be enabled by MS leaving the console business to launch a PC with an Xbox compatibility layer.
