Black Friday, the Friday following the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, is one of the biggest days for video game console sales of the year. 2021 is an especially interesting year, because stock remains low for the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles. In other words, it's another Black Friday ripe for the Nintendo Switch to secure more sales over next-generation consoles. Yet if one report is to be believed, a new king has risen to the throne. The Xbox Series S is being reported as the top console of Black Friday 2021.
Business Insider shares that a report from the Adobe Digital Economy Index confirmed Microsoft's $300 Xbox Series S console outsold the competition for Black Friday this year. That places it above the PlayStation 5, Nintendo's Switch OLED console, and even its sister console the Xbox Series X. While no specific numbers were provided by Adobe, the report claimed that the Xbox Series S is one of 2021's top-selling items among the over a trillion US retail site visits Adobe tracked.
As for why the Xbox Series S console outsold the PS5, Switch, and Xbox Series X, the answer is likely very simple. The Xbox Series S is available to buy while the PS5, Nintendo Switch OLED, and Xbox Series X are all sold out across online retailers. It may not be the exact console holiday shoppers want, but it is a next-generation console capable of playing the holiday's biggest releases and that's a great pitch at the moment.
Some may have thought that the Xbox Series S' digital-only format might keep buyers away from it for the holiday. That it didn't is perhaps owed to Xbox's messaging tied to Xbox Game Pass over the past year. Xbox Game Pass delivering a line-up of excellent digital games at an affordable price, including hits like Forza Horizon 5 and the upcoming Halo Infinite, could make the buying choice easy.
There's likely no argument that the PS5 or the Xbox Series X could have outsold the Xbox Series S if the consoles were in stock. It's likely also true that sales of the Nintendo Switch's three models, the base Switch, the Lite, and the OLED, outnumber the Xbox Series consoles' numbers. For now, however, the Xbox Series S appears to have won a deserved victory.
Many questioned the necessity of the Xbox Series S when it was originally announced, considering it a half-step that could hold back the new generation of consoles. Now, with the pandemic limiting the supply of components needed for cutting-edge hardware, a more affordable console that's simpler to manufacture seems like Xbox was able to see into the future.
The Xbox Series S is available now.
Source: Business Insider