PS5 Accounts for Around 80% of AAA Single-Player Game Sales, Analyst Says
With GTA 6 pre-orders now open, Rockstar’s upcoming game has become the biggest topic in the gaming world. It has also started a new debate between PlayStation and Xbox after reports claimed that PS5 pre-orders were between six and eight times higher than those for Xbox Series X|S. The reported gap surprised many players.
Xbox later denied those claims but did not provide any official figures of its own.
Now, new information from another source offers a clearer picture of the difference in sales between the two platforms.
PS5 Sells Three to Four Times More AAA Games Than Xbox Series X|S
Christopher Dring, editor of The Game Business, told VGC that AAA single-player games on PS5 usually sell in an 80/20 ratio compared to Xbox.
Dring, who said his information comes from “multiple private sales sources,” shared these figures while discussing the reported GTA 6 pre-orders. He also reminded readers that Rockstar has not released any official pre-order numbers.
The analyst said that, not including PC sales, a AAA single-player game usually sells 75% to 80% more copies on PS5 than on Xbox during its first month on sale.
He pointed to games such as Crimson Desert, Resident Evil Requiem, and 007: First Light as examples, but added that the numbers can change depending on the game. Dring said, “As I say, it varies by game. An online shooter often does very well on Xbox, for instance, when factoring in the install base.”
He added, “I would add that 30% of a multi-million-selling game is a lot of games.” In those cases, Xbox could account for a bigger share of sales. Even though PS5 usually sells more copies, Dring said Xbox’s numbers are still strong.
