According to new research, Microsoft have a considerable amount of work to do in Europe right now with the site proving that the Xbox group of consoles are the most unpopular in Europe right now.
Having looked at the cumulative number of searches over the last 12 months including the word ‘console’ and various versions including that word, they’ve compiled the data by country to definitely prove each and every European countries favourite console between the PlayStation 5, the Nintendo Switch and the Xbox Series X and S as a collective.
Xbox Series X|S Falls Far Behind The Rest
Perhaps a little unsurprisingly with the well-reported success over the last twelve months, Sony’s PlayStation 5 has been found to be the most popular of the three consoles in Europe, coming out on top in 43 of the 47 countries that were included in the study. One country stood head and shoulders above the rest of those 43, with 63.3% of Azerbaijan’s total ‘console’ searches being relation to the PlayStation 5, the other 36.7% being shared by the Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch. Both Bulgaria and Georgia followed suit, with 62.7% and 61.6% respectively. Chances are if you’re in those three countries, you’re going to be booting up a Sony product.
The high interest in the PlayStation 5 can be attributed to many factors, from the complete failure of exclusive games Microsoft’s system, to the stock shortages increasing the interest in the console. Between the likes of God of War, Spider-Man and the FOMO, the PlayStation 5 has quickly risen to the top of the ranks with serious and casual gamers alike.
Since the release of the PlayStation 5 in November 2020, the console has shifted an estimated 37.4 million units worldwide. With the upcoming winter season promising the release of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, one of the most sought after and anticipated releases of the last few years, this number is going to skyrocket.
As well as the success of the PlayStation 5, the Nintendo Switch, a console released long before the other two mentioned here, has had a strong year also, featuring as the top choice in four European countries; Andorra, Ireland, Liechtenstein and Spain. It also took second place in 41 of the 47 countries, ending up third in only two of them! For a console that has been available for six years with a constant stream of stock available, this is a huge achievement, and one that sets the platform up for a successful launch of their next console, if rumours are to be believed.
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With the continued success of the Nintendo Switch, it’s no surprise that Sony are pushing into the portable market, albeit with the highly contentious and potentially pointless ‘Project Q’, a dedicated handheld built around the console’s pre-existing ‘Remote Play’, a feature that gamers argue is not stable enough, nor warrants its own piece of hardware. Time will tell if this new piece of hardware helps continue the dominance of the PlayStation 5 or not.
- The Xbox Series X|S trails Playstation 5 and Nintendo Switch in most of Europe and is the least popular console on the continent.
- The PlayStation 5 is the most popular video game console in Europe, with the highest number of searches across 43 countries.
- The Nintendo Switch is the second most popular console in Europe with the highest number of searches in four countries.
- The Xbox Series X/S didn’t come out on top in any European country but was more popular than the Nintendo Switch in Hungary and Ukraine.
Lastly, Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and lesser-powered Series S manage to snap the top spot in precisely zero European countries. A pitiful result, the only condolence being that they managed second spot in two countries, Hungary and Ukraine.
The complete lack of any dominance in the console market can be for several reasons. From the complete lack of AAA exclusives of any sort in the last few years, excluding the horrendous Redfall, a focus on live-service games and purchasing developers rather than pushing out quality games, or, until recently, the total lack of a future slate of Xbox exclusives. Thankfully the recent Xbox Showcase changed this, with fans of the console now having the likes of Avowed, Fable and many more to look forward to, as well as the imminent release of Starfield.
With all of that, it could be that this time next year we’ll be discussing a much more dominant performance from Microsoft and Xbox, with the platform coming up to one of its biggest years in its history. No sales figures have been made public by Microsoft, which is never a good sign, but analysts estimate it currently trails the PlayStation 5, with 21.7 million sales between the Xbox Series X and Series S in total.
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What do you make of all this? In a time where the console wars are starting up to a huge degree with the FTC trial and Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, do you think there’s any way back for Microsoft and Xbox, or is it just slowly losing a very public battle with an inevitable end? Let us know in the comments!
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