Skip to main content

Xbox Series X/S topples Switch sales in record-setting June

The Xbox Series X/S was the top-selling console platform in the United States in June, based on dollar sales tracked by NPD and reported by VentureBeat. Last month was the most successful June ever for Xbox, breaking a previous dollar sales record set in 2011. Many are speculating that the surge in sales is due to Microsoft’s strong showing at E3 2021.

Gaming hardware has seen a dramatic increase in sales over the past year, with a 112% increase in sales across the Switch, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. Despite the proliferation of COVID-19 vaccines allowing for a return to a version of normalcy and numerous hardware shortages due to manufacturing issues, console sales continue to do extremely well.

For the first half of 2021, the Nintendo Switch was the overall best-selling unit in both dollar sales and units, and it remained the top seller in units in June. The PlayStation 5 is the fastest unit-selling console platform in history over its 8 months on the market.

The Switch was the top-selling console in both units and dollar sales in May until its reign was toppled by the Series X/S. It’s unclear whether the Series X/S can continue this run, particularly with component shortages still occurring and Nintendo’s extremely well-received E3 presentation looming in the background.

Xbox also had a dramatic E3 presentation this year, which introduced players to big-name titles like Halo Infinite, Redfall, and Starfield. Microsoft recently announced that the Xbox Cloud Gaming service is powered by custom Xbox Series X hardware, expanding the console’s influence into the world of cloud gaming and streaming.

It remains to be seen whether all of these slick announcements will be enough to bolster Xbox Series X/S sales through the long term.

Editors' Recommendations

Emily Morrow
Emily Morrow is a games journalist and narrative designer who has written for a variety of online publications. If she’s…
Starfield is a success. What does that mean for the future of Xbox?
A ship lands on a planet in Starfield.

Starfield was one of the most vital video game launches ever.
The last couple of years have been full of whiplash for Xbox fans, full of high highs and low lows. After a solid fall 2021 game lineup, 2022 was comparatively barren for first-party Xbox games. Microsoft then started the year on a strong note with Hi-Fi Rush’s surprise launch before crashing and burning with the disastrous release of Redfall, the first heavily marketed AAA game coming out from Bethesda after it was acquired by Microsoft. Starfield, a game that many were uneasy about due to its scope, would inadvertently become a make-or-break moment for Microsoft.
In May, I wrote that Starfield was “the most pivotal game for the future of the Xbox brand since Halo: Combat Evolved” because of what I thought was at stake if it failed. Well, Starfield just launched, and … it’s a hit. It’s not the genre-defining, industry-changing mega-RPG that some fans were lauding it as prerelease. However, it’s still an enjoyable sci-fi adventure that's receiving positive attention despite some drawbacks. And it's already earned over 1 million concurrent players across all platforms. Digital Trends gave it a three-and-a-half star review, writing, “though it can’t nearly deliver on Bethesda’s intergalactic ambitions, Starfield is an impressive space RPG filled with impactful decisions.” On Steam, over 24,000 reviews are averaging a ‘Very Positive” consensus.
While not a total stunner, Starfield hasn't derailed Xbox or caused the public to lose faith in its first-party games; in fact, it has renewed some confidence. Reassessing Xbox’s future post-Starfield, it’s clear that it’s still reliant on something it has struggled with this entire console generation: consistency.
It’s all about consistency
Despite the success of Xbox Game Pass and some excellent first-party games like Pentiment and Hi-Fi Rush, Microsoft has struggled to establish consistency across messaging, game launch cadence, and quality. That has hurt it this console generation, where it has felt like Xbox has promised more than it's delivered despite several game company acquisitions and exciting announcements. It doesn’t help that Sony and Nintendo have been at the top of their game in regard to those things in recent years.

That’s ultimately what put so much pressure on Redfall and Starfield. They needed to pay off an expensive Bethesda acquisition and usher in a steady stream of new Xbox games. Perhaps that’s why the poor quality of Redfall felt like such a slap in the face for Xbox fans. What should’ve cemented a consistent Xbox first-party output instead highlighted all of its problems. This made Xbox’s situation heading into Starfield’s launch feel dire, even more so than it actually was in reality for a branch of a megacorporation like Microsoft.
But now Starfield is here and people like it, even if it has some evident flaws. Starfield was neither the Redfall-level critical flop that would kill Xbox nor the 11/10 game some people expected. It’s just an entertaining RPG that Xbox players can lose themselves in and feel a little bit of console pride over. The vibes across the Xbox community are mostly positive right now, and Microsoft needs to maintain that feeling.
The weak first-party 2022 lineup and the rough state of Redfall left us wondering if the only thing Xbox was consistent at was disappointment, but Starfield and other recent efforts from Microsoft-owned studios indicate that this is not the case. Since Redfall, we’ve got a big Monkey Island-themed update for Sea of Thieves, an excellent remaster of Quake II, a solid Xbox Series X/S port of Age of Empires IV, and Starfield to show that Xbox’s studios are back on track. It’s up to the Xbox team to keep up that momentum after Forza Motorsport launches and the Activision Blizzard acquisition finally concludes this October.

Read more
Starfield’s ending explained: What are Starborn and The Unity?
Key art for Starfield

Bethesda Game Studios’ Starfield finally saw wide release on September 6 after years of waiting and speculation. One of the most mysterious elements of Starfield prior to its release was its story, as people wondered how realistic Starfield’s sci-fi universe would skew and if we’d encounter intelligent aliens, time travel, or other odd sci-fi concepts during the adventure.

Starfield is a lengthy game, and its narrative picks up in the back half thanks to some shocking twists, a memorable ending, and an interesting conceit that leads into “New Game Plus”-style replays. If you don’t know whether or not you’ll play enough to make it to the end of your Starfield campaign or just want to know what happens at the end of one of the biggest games of the year, here's a recap of Starfield’s story and ending.

Read more
Rebuild your own nostalgia with this detailed Xbox 360 toy set
xbox 360 mega building set replica

Although Microsoft is shutting down the Xbox 360 Store next year and definitely wants you to pick up its newest console for Starfield, it has still found a new way to appeal to the nostalgia of Xbox 360 players. It's doing so through the new Mega Showcase Microsoft Xbox 360 Collector Building Set, which will be available this October.

This set will be available starting on October 8 and will cost you $150 dollars; that said, you'll only be able to pick one up at Target. Mega makes Lego-like replica models of things for people to build, and this one is intricately designed to look like the launch version of Xbox 360. It's at 3:4 scale and made up of 1342 pieces. With it, players can build a version of the Xbox 360, a controller, and a case and disc for Halo 3. Even the packaging it comes in looks like the boxes Xbox 360 consoles came in at release. 
Once built, this model will actually have working lights and a disc drive, as well as a hard drive and side shell panels that are removable. It obviously won't be able to play actual Xbox 360 games, but it still looks like a faithful recreation of Microsoft's classic game console. This is far from the first time we've seen video games and their consoles branch over into the work of buildable toys, as Nintendo patterned with Lego to create various Mario sets as well as a replica NES.
The Mega Showcase Microsoft Xbox 360 Collector Building Set releases exclusively at Target on October 8.

Read more