PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S console sales increased in the UK following last week’s Grand Theft Auto 6 reveal on Netflix.
According to The Games Business, Nielsen IQ data shows PS5 sales rose by 33% and Xbox console sales grew by 34%.
PS5 Pro consoles are selling out nationwide, and retailers including Argos and Smyths Toys now only have base models available.
Despite a significant jump in the run-up to GTA 6’s launch in November, alongside Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 in October, Newzoo’s Ronan Patrick said that it expects to see “an uptick in the install base but nothing particularly massive.”
“The PS5 in inflation-adjusted terms is 67% more expensive [than at launch], and Xbox is twice as expensive,” said Patrick.
“It’s important to remember that the lion’s share of time is often spent on older titles, and the closest analogy we have to a hardware shock is during the 2020-2021 GPU shortage, and you didn’t see engagement or revenue being taken off course. You basically saw a reallocation of spend into software.”
VGC reports that UK hardware sales are down 14.4% year-on-year, primarily due to a 32% decline in PS5 sales. Xbox Series X|S sales have increased by 3.1%.
The extended GTA 6 preview was Netflix’s most-viewed title last week, reaching 31.1 million views in four days. On YouTube, the preview received 22 million views in one week.
Sensor Tower data shows that Netflix’s US mobile viewership increased by 35% hour-over-hour during the premiere.