xbox console sales hit a new september low while ps5 stock flies off shelves ahead of gta 6

September hardware numbers dropped and Xbox had its worst September ever for Series consoles. Circana says Series X|S sales fell 27% year over year. That's a new low, beating the previous record low from last September. Ouch.

Meanwhile PS5 sales grew 22% in units and 43% in dollars. Switch 2 fell 12% but it's still outpacing the original Switch by a lot, so Nintendo's fine. The PS5 Pro is selling out in places too, and a lot of people think it's because everyone wants a box ready for GTA 6 on November 19.

Microsoft kind of did this to itself. The whole "This Is an Xbox" campaign told people they didn't need a console to play Xbox games. Cloud streaming, day one PC releases, multiplatform stuff. It all pushed people away from buying the actual box. Now they're quietly walking that back, talking about exclusives again, extending Series X|S life with some AMD graphics boost, and prepping that expensive Project Helix hardware for 2028.

New Xbox CEO Asha Sharma has a reset on her hands, and it sounds like layoffs are part of it. Sony stayed on brand with the PS5, even with the all digital push people hate. The GTA 6 marketing has been everywhere and it's clearly moving consoles.

I'm not surprised PS5 is winning this cycle. GTA 6 is a system seller and Rockstar and Sony have been pushing it hard. Xbox has no answer for that right now.

Do you think Xbox can recover before GTA 6 launches, or is this generation already decided?

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Source: GameSpot · Curated content.