Image: Microsoft
Microsoft’s latest-generation Xbox is finally more accessible after a staggering 17 months after its release. As a result, the publisher had its first good sales month in a long time, with the Xbox Series S and Series X even outpacing Nintendo’s Switch in March.
In breaking business news, it turns out that if your product is available, more people will buy it. That’s the revelation Microsoft has encountered, and now that the Xbox Series S and Series X are finally more likely to appear in brick-and-mortar stores and online. That led Microsoft to bring in more revenue than its rivals in March 2022, according to NPD sales figures, even though the Switch outsold the S/X series in terms of individual units.
While finding the X-Series can still prove the occasional test, small houseCheck this morning to find them readily available through Best Buy. Meanwhile, from GameStop to Target to Best Buy to Walmart, the Series S is definitely available at standard prices.
Nintendo still beat Microsoft in sales, likely due to the Switch’s cheaper price compared to the Series X, coupled with the Switch’s wider availability.
read more: Xbox Series X is easy to buy for the first time in years
At the same time, these seemingly positive results Hidden hardware sales overall down year over year, according to NPD’s Mat Piscatella. Overall March sales were down nearly a quarter from 2021, down 24%, and the first quarter of 2022 was down 15% overall compared to last year.
Piscatella speculates This may be the result of continued hardware scarcity that has “increased prices in other regions.” Or, to put it another way, the cost of living crisis in much of the world has finally caught up with video games.
Of course, the poor old PlayStation hasn’t seen the X/S series return to shelves, and the PS5 is still as rare as a unicorn poop. None of our checks of the same store that sells the Series S turned up any fun for the PlayStation 5.
It’ll be interesting to see if that changes in Q2 2022, especially as Sony launches a revamped PS Plus in an attempt to challenge Microsoft’s all-seeing Game Pass. Without a machine to use it (and trying to find a new PS4, which we couldn’t do either), it’s going to be more difficult, especially as we head into summer when the prices of household basics are skyrocketing.