It took four years, but the Xbox Series X is finally outselling the Xbox Series S in the United States by a slim margin, according to this month’s report from Circana.
Circana, which tracks US game spending in dollars, reports that the Xbox Series X accounted for 58% of all total Xbox Series units sold in September, and 51% of all Xbox Series units sold life to date.
This is especially notable given that when we last checked, the Series S was well ahead. During a big leak of Xbox court documents last year, we learned that as of April 2022, 74.8% of Xbox Series owners globally owned an S, and 25.1% owned an X. At the time, both Circana’s Mat Piscatella and Niko Partners’ Daniel Ahmad clariifed to IGN that the split in 2023 was closer to 50/50, but that the Series S still had the edge at the time. So in the US, at least, it looks like the X has pulled ahead.
Update 11:14am PT: We spoke with Piscatella about why the Series X has passed the S, and he had this to say:
Few things happening here as opposed to earlier in the cycle when S was leading. Of course, we have to start with supply. Series S was more widely available during 2020-2022, with X only getting fully in stock a few years after launch due to looks at everything 2020-2022. Then we also have console buyers in general shifting to a slightly older audience with higher average household income than we saw early in this generation, which would suggest that perhaps price sensitivity may be a bit lower now than it was previously. There are likely several other contributing factors, but these are the two I’d put on the top of my list.
Overall, though, spending in September was down 44% year-over-year across all hardware in its lowest point since 2019. Xbox hardware sales were down 54%, PlayStation was down 45%, and the Nintendo Switch was down 23%. The PS5 was the best-seller in both unit and dollar sales, 40% of PS5 unit sales in September and 18% of PS5 sales life-to-date were digital. And the PlayStation Portal was the best-selling accessory of the month, with 3% of all PS5 owners in the US having bought one.
As for content, spending was down 6% year-over year, but it was a hoppin’ month for game releases. EA Sports FC 25 debuted at #1, followed by Astro Bot at #2, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom at #4 (excluding digital sales), NBA 2K25 at #7 (also excluding digital), and NHL 25 at #9. Space Marine 2 debuted at #18, not including digital sales, and was third in total MAUs on Steam in September per Circana.
Also notable was the resurgence on the charts of Dead Rising, which leaped from #502 last month to #11. Update 11:14am PT: Piscatella confirmed to IGN that the “Dead Rising” on the list is in fact both the original Dead Rising and the newly-released Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster combined, which explains the sales surge.
- EA Sports FC 25
- Astro Bot
- Madden NFL 25
- The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom*
- EA Sports College Football 25
- Star Wars: Outlaws
- NBA 2K25*
- Hogwarts Legacy
- NHL 25
- God of War: Ragnarok
- Dead Rising
- Final Fantasy XVI
- Elden Ring
- Minecraft*
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)
- Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
- Age of Mythology
- Space Marine 2 (Warhammer 40,000)*
- Ghost of Tsushima
- EA Sports MVP Bundle
* Indicates that some or all digital sales are not included in Circana’s data. Some publishers, including Nintendo and Take-Two, do not share certain digital data for this report.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
