Which firm is winning out in the console wars battle, the perennial contest between the three big gaming hardware providers? New data from CScores suggests there are different winners depending upon the measure used. The data draws on search information provided by Google.
In terms of ‘noise’, Xbox is the most searched gaming console worldwide, topping searches in 24 of 55 countries studied. This was as per YouTube, Google Image and Google Shopping searches. However, considering hard sales, the PlayStation 5 is the top selling console, beating Nintendo Switch by 170,000-unit sales.
The study that derived these data investigated online interest in the latest generation consoles from the world’s three major console brands – PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Xbox series X/S. The table below provides details about the sales trends:
| Worldwide Searches | Xbox Series S/X | Nintendo Switch | PlayStation 5 |
| Worldwide Google Web Searches (Average total) | 23.03 | 14.4 | 24.5 |
| Worldwide News Searches (Average Total) | 17.9 | 8.3 | 29.05 |
| Google Shopping (Average Total) | 29.3 | 22.6 | 25.3 |
| YouTube Searches (Average Total) | 34.8 | 18.5 | 27.6 |
| Image Searches (Average Total) | 40.9 | 31.4 | 30.5 |
With the above, a value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular.
With Google searches there are some national variations. Xbox tops the list in the UK, with 53 percent of searches compared to 31% percent for the PlayStation 5, and 16 percent for the Nintendo Switch. Similarly in the US, Xbox accounted for nearly half (49 percent) of the combined searches for the three consoles, with 22 percent for the Switch and 29 percent for the PS5. Of the 55 countries included in the study, Xbox was the most popular search in 24.
This means there were some variations. For example, the Microsoft console is particularly popular in Hungary (64 percent), Mexico (62 percent) and Brazil (61 percent), accounting more than six in ten console searches in each of these countries.
The PS5 device dominated the share of searches in 17 countries, proving to be Iran’s favourite console with 61% of web queries, followed by 58 percent each in Taiwan and Saudi Arabia.
The Nintendo Switch is by far the most searched console in Japan, with a massive 85 percent of searches for it compared to 12 percent of the PS5 and just 3 percent for Xbox. South Korea also has the most searches for Nintendo Switch, with 61 percent, along with France (50 percent), and Austria (49 percent). In total the Switch receives the highest share of searches in 14 countries.
Despite more online interest in Xbox over the past 12 months, it had the lowest unit sales of the three consoles in the first six months following their respective release dates. PlayStation 5 made 7.8-million-unit sales, Nintendo Switch made 7.63 million and Xbox series made 5.3 million.
While the global shortage of semiconductor chips has made it challenging for gamers to get their hands on the newest offerings from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, e search data shows that interest remains very strong in purchasing one.
