The Xbox Series S Was Black Friday's Best Selling Console

[Sandro Linux]

Summary

According to data from Adobe Digital Economy Index, the Xbox Series S was Black Friday’s most popular console. Adobe got this data from over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites.

 

Quotes

Quote

An unlikely video game console is dominating sales on one of the biggest shopping days of the year: The $300 Xbox Series S console from Microsoft, according to the Adobe Digital Economy Index.

Quote

Adobe claims its data comes from analysing 1 trillion visits to retail sites, in addition to surveying over 1,000 retailers on their most popular items.

My thoughts

I think this story shows how people are increasingly buying cheaper consoles and how mass supply shortages are just increasing this trend. Also, it is clear many people either can't afford, or don't need a high end console right now and how Microsoft took advantage of this with the 300 price of the Xbox Series S(whether it was inadvertently or advertently). 

 

Sources

https://www.businessinsider.com/most-popular-game-console-black-friday-2021-xbox-2021-11

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/xbox-series-s-was-black-fridays-most-popular-console-its-claimed/

[porina]

I'd bet it only sold the most simply because it remains extremely difficult to get the higher end models at a legit source. So it becomes get the low end one or nothing. What would have been interesting is if all options were available, what would have sold then? We might never know. Are MS prioritising production of the S, which would skew it even more. Basically they're making it happen.

[Sandro Linux]

2 minutes ago, porina said:

I'd bet it only sold the most simply because it remains extremely difficult to get the higher end models at a legit source. So it becomes get the low end one or nothing. What would have been interesting is if all options were available, what would have sold then? We might never know. Are MS prioritising production of the S, which would skew it even more. Basically they're making it happen.

Perhaps yeah

[tim0901]

11 minutes ago, porina said:

I'd bet it only sold the most simply because it remains extremely difficult to get the higher end models at a legit source. So it becomes get the low end one or nothing. What would have been interesting is if all options were available, what would have sold then? We might never know. Are MS prioritising production of the S, which would skew it even more. Basically they're making it happen.

Yeah I've seen the Series S just sitting on shelves for months now - it's not been hard to find at all. Meanwhile the Series X and PS5 are still like gold dust in reputable retailers, or are selling for £200+ over the MSRP in second hand stores. 100% this is because there was actually supply of them over the others that people actually want to buy. The Switch would be its only real competitor and those sales would be split over the various editions - and its not exactly new anymore.

 

Maybe its just the people I hang out with but most of them have no interest in the digital only editions of the consoles - digital games are more expensive in the long run, especially if you're willing to buy second hand games. I wonder if the market for them is more for kids - £250 is a much easier price to swallow for Little Tommy's FIFA machine over the £450 msrp for the Series X - let alone the scalper prices.

[Arika]

Kind of semi related, but it was always stupid to me how they gave the digital only version of the xbox only half the storage space of the hybrid one.

 

Series X (that can use disks): 1TB

Series S (digital only): 512GB

 

Yes i know it was probably so they could sell their storage modules, but come on.

[vetali]

I think people are getting frustrated of trying to fight the bots during drops on the X and settling for the S as Christmas nears. You could find the S on demand online for some time now. Suddenly stock has dwindled. Plus it helps the console has been on the shelves for the people that impulse buy when getting a new TV or just looking for something new.

[vetali]

2 minutes ago, valdyrgramr said:

Well, for parents there is the price differences.  A lot of people buying them for family reasons don't want to pay around 500 USD.  There's honestly not much appeal to the new consoles outside of modding or going where friends are.  However, I think you can play/communicate with friends on the previous gen.  Heck, I can play Destiny 2 on PC with a friend on PS5 and use the PS App on my phone to communicate with him.

Yeah you can cross communicate between platforms. On Halo Infinite I was playing with my nephews. I was on PC, one was on my series X, the other on a One X. No issues whatsoever.

 

I don't think price matters a ton unless having multiple kids to buy for. Its all about availability. If price mattered the series X/PS5 wouldn't be scooped up in .1 second of a drop going live by bots to be resold 400 dollars over MSRP.

[Sandro Linux]

1 minute ago, vetali said:

Yeah you can cross communicate between platforms. On Halo Infinite I was playing with my nephews. I was on PC, one was on my series X, the other on a One X. No issues whatsoever.

 

I don't think price matters a ton unless having multiple kids to buy for. Its all about availability. If price mattered the series X/PS5 wouldn't be scooped up in .1 second of a drop going live by bots to be resold 400 dollars over MSRP.

Yup

[Helpful Tech Witch]

34 minutes ago, Arika S said:

Yes i know it was probably so they could sell their storage modules, but come on.

Plus, with a 1tb expantion, it costs bassically as much as a series x, if you can find the series x