Xbox Series X/S Sales Fall in 2025 as Microsoft Shifts Focus

Data shared by VGChartz, which tracks sales through November, suggests that the Xbox Series X and Series S sold around two million units worldwide in 2025. While that number is not small on its own, it marks a sharp drop of more than 45 percent compared to the estimated 4.79 million units sold in 2024.

This slowdown did not happen without reason. Over the past year, both the Series X and Series S saw noticeable price increases, which made many buyers think twice about picking up the hardware. When compared to other consoles, the gap is clear. Lifetime sales for the Xbox Series X/S are estimated at 34.1 million units, far behind the PlayStation 5 at 86.1 million and the original Nintendo Switch, which has reached over 152 million units. Even the Nintendo Switch 2, released in mid-2025, has already sold an estimated 12.4 million units.

Calling this a failure ignores how much the Xbox brand has changed in 2025. Microsoft has clearly moved away from focusing only on traditional consoles. Instead, the company has pushed hard into handheld devices and cloud gaming. One of the biggest moves was the release of the ROG Xbox Ally, a handheld PC that runs the Xbox interface and brings the ecosystem to a portable format. At the same time, Xbox Cloud Gaming continued to grow, letting people play without owning a console at all.

In this context, the Xbox Series X/S is no longer the center of Microsoft’s plans. It is now one option among many ways to access the Xbox ecosystem. This approach is similar to what happened with the original Nintendo Switch as it began to slow down ahead of its successor, though Microsoft’s shift is more strategic than generational. With strong PC support, cloud access on mobile devices, and flexible hardware options, Xbox is focusing more on software and services than on console sales alone.