PlayStation strengthens its leadership in the US: the difference in active players with Xbox has grown to 10 million
While Xbox has long since lost its significance in Europe and Asia, the competition between Sony and Microsoft remains fierce in the US. However, new data shows that PlayStation is gradually strengthening its advantage in Microsoft's home market, increasing the gap in the number of active players to 10 million.
Here's What We Know
Ampere analysts have released fresh estimates that cover both the current generation of consoles (PS5 and Xbox Series X|S) and the previous one (PS4 and Xbox One). According to their data, at the end of 2022, the difference between active PlayStation and Xbox users in the US was about 6 million, and by the end of 2024, this figure almost doubled to 10 million.
This indicates that users are increasingly favouring Sony's ecosystem over Microsoft's. Although the exact numbers of active players on each platform remain unknown, it is clear that the trend is towards an increase in the popularity of PlayStation and a simultaneous decrease in interest in Xbox.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that Microsoft has recently raised the prices of its consoles. For example, the limited edition Xbox Series X Galaxy Black with 2 TB of storage now costs more than the PlayStation 5 Pro. Economic conditions may force Sony to reconsider its pricing policy as well, but if this does not happen, the PlayStation's advantage over the Xbox will only increase.
Additionally, Circana's data confirms that almost half of the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles sold in the US are digital versions without a disc drive, reflecting the general trend towards digital game distribution. At the same time, the PS5 maintains its leadership in terms of sales and revenue, while the Xbox shows a 9% drop.
Source: @thegamebusiness
