Xbox Series X is now outselling Series S in the US, per new sales report — but console hardware is still dropping

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Xbox Series X has outsold Series S in the U.S, according to the September 2024 Circana sales report.

Image of Xbox Series X and Series S side-by-side with Xbox Wireless Controllers.
Xbox Series X sales are finally above the Series S life-to-date, in the U.S. (Image credit: Matt Brown | Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Analytics group Circana provides details every month on U.S. video game hardware and software sales.
  • Per Circana, the Xbox Series X is now outselling the Xbox Series S in the U.S. as of September 2024, comprising 58% of units sold in the month. 
  • PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console of the month, with Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch second in dollar sales and units sold, respectively.
  • All three consoles were down year-over-year. 

There's interesting new insights in the world of video game hardware. 

Microsoft's higher-end Xbox Series X is now outselling the Xbox Series S in the U.S, with the big boy taking up 58% of units sold in September 2024, per Circana  executive director and advisor Mat Piscatella, who shared the details on Wednesday in a thread on Bluesky. Xbox Series X now accounts for 51% of Xbox Series X|S console sales in the U.S, life-to-date. 

The PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console of September 2024 overall, with Xbox Series X|S second in dollar sales and Nintendo Switch second in units sold. Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo hardware was down 54%, 45%, and 23% year-over-year, for a total drop of 44% in hardware spending for the month compared to September 2023.

Xbox Series X 1TB Digital Edition | $449.99 at Amazon

Xbox Series X 1TB Digital Edition | $449.99 at Amazon

The Xbox Series X Digital Edition ditches the disc drive to give you $50 in additional savings. The white console is otherwise largely unchanged, save for a new CPU process that should boost power efficiency slightly.

See at: Amazon

Below, you can find details for the best-selling games of the month. Bear in mind that some publishers like Nintendo and Focus Entertainment don't share digital data, throwing off the placement for games like Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2.

September 2024 Circana: Here are the top 20 best-selling games in the U.S.

1. EA Sports FC 25
2. Astro Bot
3. Madden NFL 25
4. The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom*
5. EA Sports College Football 25
6. Star Wars Outlaws
7. NBA 2K25*
8. Hogwarts Legacy
9. NHL 25
10. God of War Ragnarok
11. Dead Rising
12. Final Fantasy 16
13. Elden Ring
14. Minecraft****
15. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)
16. Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
17. Age of Mythology
18. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2*
19. Ghost of Tsushima
20. EA Sports MVP Bundle

September 2024 Circana: Here are the best-selling games of the year so far

1. EA Sports College Football 25
2. Helldivers 2
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)
4. EA Sports MVP Bundle
5. Elden Ring
6. Dragon's Dogma 2
7. Madden NFL 25
8. MLB The Show 24**
9. WWE 2K24**
10. EA Sports FC 25
11. Hogwarts Legacy
12. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
13. Tekken 8
14. NBA 2K24**
15. Grand Theft Auto V**
16. Madden NFL 24
17. Minecraft****
18. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
19. EA Sports FC 24
20. Persona 3 Reload

*Denotes no digital sales data
**Denotes no digital sales data on Xbox or Nintendo Switch
***Denotes no digital sales data for July through September
****Denotes no digital sales data on Nintendo

🎃The best early Black Friday deals🦃

Analysis: Intriguing split, but console hardware looks rough

My questions about what the fall looks like haven't been answered just yet.

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Xbox Series X

(Image credit: Windows Central)

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The evergreen gaming franchises are continuing to excel, with tremendous performance from EA Sports FC 25, which is up a double-digit percentage compared to the launch of FC 24 last year. It's also nice to see PlayStation's Astro Bot making a solid debut. 

Still, the drops around console hardware are rough, there's simply no other way to put it. Many have their hopes pinned on big games coming next year, such as Grand Theft Auto 6 and Monster Hunter Wilds, but I'm not sure that'll be enough of a solution. 

It's fairly telling to me that the lower-powered, lower-priced Xbox Series S is now being outsold by the Xbox Series X. Hardcore players might be interested in upgrading, but the more casual audience simply isn't moving on from their decade-old hardware. 

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Samuel Tolbert
Samuel Tolbert
Freelance Writer

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter @SamuelTolbert.

2 Comments Comment from the forums
  • fatpunkslim
    Console hardware is down everywhere, not just at Xbox! Playstaton sales fell 45% year-on-year, almost the same percentage as for Xbox. The console market is in recession and in any case, at this time of the generation, that's pretty normal too.It must be said that the X series has dropped in price and offers better comfort. Even if the S series remains the best value for money in consoles, any manufacturer combined.
    Reply
  • Lurking_Lurker_Lurks
    I really can't stand the copium people smoke regarding console sales. Just because PS is still doing better than Xbox (as they always have) does not magically mean they're okay and the console market still isn't a dumpster fire. Consoles aren't reaching new people. The data matches the usual and the usual is terrible for a market like the console market. The last thing you want in business is for your user base to NOT significantly be expanding while your costs are exponentially. The only one that's probably fine is Nintendo and only because they seemingly have the best margins and more importantly don't have nearly as lofty goals to meet.

    I honestly think Xbox is fine because they're treating Xbox as a brand and a platform and not JUST a console (they aren't abandoning it and all the money it makes, but are also expanding as they should). And like they said they're still seeing as much active console users (more than ever actually) and they aren't hugely concerned with making them upgrade. Sony on the other hand... I seriously don't think how anyone could see them charging $700 (more outside the US) for a minimal upgrade pro model without a stand or disc drive as anything but a cry for help. They're struggling to adapt to reality. Their live service attempts have been mostly a miss minus Helldivers (and sometimes a huge miss). Their mobile goals are umm.... well we're fast approaching those years they targeted. They're forced to move to supporting PC begrudgingly. They've had to give up on "believing in generations" and so on.

    Really consoles overall have been disappointing and frustrating because the route they took competing has really closed them off to new users and general audiences and firmly established consoles as niche gaming devices. Why would anyone buy a console when third party games play hopscotch exclusive? When you need to buy entirely different hardware for the privelege to purchase certain games? When cross progression and cross play aren't the norm still? When games you buy historically might not even work on the successor model you buy WITHIN THE SAME ECOSYSTEM. People these days complain about needing more than one streaming service to catch certain originals. Why do gamers believe exclusives and walling off consoles were ever a strategy to induce a healthy market? In 2024 the best selling console shouldn't just now be maybe the first console to dethrone the ps2 in 2006 at under 160m sales (in a six year lifespan). Xbox was right in the One era in that consoles can't just see each other as competition. They are just another method by which people can entertain themselves and people weigh them against other entertainment options and most people just don't want to bother entertaining themselves on a console. That's not even that they dislike gaming. The same people will put hundreds of hours on mobile games. They just reasonably don't want to get into any console ecosystem when they're so walled off (even from iterations of the same console).

    Speaking of, it does make sense the Series X is overtaking the S. The Series S is an entry point console and most of the new buyers have bought the console they want. Now more people are upgrading AND the Series X on average costs significantly less than it did four years ago. If you have an Xbox One it makes more sense to upgrade to a Series X (more gains and it takes up about as much space).
    Reply