Quinton is a Staff Writer from the United States. In his youth, Quinton was ridiculed for making video game ranking lists instead of paying attention in math class. In adulthood, people sometimes pay him for it. Life’s a trip.
Taking his first steps into the industry in 2020, Quinton has written for several digital publications, but his permanent literary home is right here at TheGamer.
Before striking up a conversation with Quinton, consider the risks: he’ll find a way to transform almost any topic into an analysis of either world history, Star Trek, or – at least this one’s relevant to his career – all his favorite role-playing games.
Black Friday, or more accurately, “Black Friday week,” is only one part of the holiday sales season. But it’s a big part. Each year, retailers in many Western countries – the United States most of all – bank on gangbusters sales during this busy, sales-savvy, little stretch. Console manufacturers want a strong showing here.
Between the PlayStation 5’s dominance (more on that in a sec) and the Nintendo Switch 2’s shiny new appeal, one would tend to expect that Microsoft’s Xbox Series X|S consoles were predestined for a third-place 2025 Black Friday finish. As it happens, gaming sales tracking company Circana includes a certain semi-niche device that just so happens to have pushed poor Xbox into fourth.
“In the US,” Circana’s Mat Piscatella revealed yesterday on Bluesky, “PlayStation 5 accounted for 47% of total Black Friday week hardware unit sales, leading the market.” As many have noted, such a robust showing is led in large part due to Sony’s smartly aggressive discount strategy; if ever there’s a time of year to reverse this generation’s unfortunate “price goes up over time” saga, it’s here. “Nintendo Switch 2 ranked 2nd (24%), with the NEX Playground 3rd (14%).
Right, right. Sounds expected. PS5, followed by Switch 2, with Microsoft’s struggling NEX Playground rounding out the rear – wait, what?
NEX Playground is (arguably somewhat ironically) a Kinect-like fitness device. It’s categorized as gaming hardware, because, well, it is. The website tagline reads, “Play that moves you. Sweat, laugh, and grow – together.” Suffice it to say, it doubles as a fitness device. Which is pretty cool!
The Playground isn’t new, even if this latest bit of news coverage is sure to skyrocket its mindshare in the minds of hardcore, sales-analyzing, gamers like ourselves. As Astral_lion02 notes on InstallBase, it had sold just 5,000 units in CY 2023. That leapt to somewhere south of 100,000 YTD at the conclusion of November 2024. It’s been steady sailing from there; another prominent IB analyst, Vena, hypothesizes over 200k sold for Black Friday week alone.
If we combine PS5’s 47% with Switch 2’s 24% and Playground’s 14%, that leaves just 15% of the marketshare for Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 1, and any scattered little something-somethings that might also be included. Given that the original Switch hasn’t completely cratered yet – it’s just getting there in short order, understandably – some are theorizing a sub-10% Xbox share.
It’s old hat to say that Xbox is struggling worldwide, and it’s quickly becoming similarly old hat to say that it’s even struggling hard on its home turf. But this latest report isn’t the result of NEX Playground turning into some truly major player (which isn’t to say it’s not done quite well for itself, as it has); this has more to do with just how far down Xbox has stumbled of late, when a somewhat niche device with a Play Pass subscription triumphs over the machine that’s hard-coded for Game Pass success.
Kind of makes me wonder what we might be seeing from Steam Machine next holiday season.
While Rockstar suggested the upgrade issues are tied to the Xbox 360 release, Xbox Support is pointing the blame at the developer.
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