The winter holiday season is typically the game industry's busiest sales window, with many major titles launching during this period. Game console manufacturers will also make full use of Black Friday promotions to promote console sales at attractive prices, expand their user base and boost revenue.
However, the situation in 2025 is different - a significant memory shortage has pushed up related hardware costs, affecting many areas including PCs and game consoles. Despite this, Sony PlayStation 5 seems not to be significantly affected, surpassing Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo in Black Friday sales in the US and UK markets, taking the dominant position.
In the US market, well-known industry analyst Matt Piscatella pointed out that PS5 accounted for more than 47% of total console sales during Black Friday week. Nintendo Switch 2 ranked second with 24% share. The Xbox series did not enter the top three. This position was taken by NEX Playground, which accounted for 14% of sales.
In the British market, game business analyst Christopher Deering reported that PS5 sales accounted for more than 62% of all hardware sales during Black Friday week. Switch 2 gained approximately 23% share, while Xbox accounted for 10%. It is worth noting that PS5 sales in the UK during Black Friday week increased by 16% compared with the same period last year. The average price of PS5 during the promotion period was 340 pounds. It is reported that this is the seventh time that the price of the console is less than 400 pounds.
Previous reports have shown that due to the continued shortage of memory, Xbox Series X|S inventory is under pressure and the price may be raised again. This may explain its relatively flat sales performance during Black Friday week. However, Microsoft has decided to increase console production in Vietnam to cope with the expected surge in demand with the release of "GTA6". This move may alleviate the current supply difficulties.