Xbox did so badly on US Black Friday sales its SKUs were beaten by a console you've never heard of

Black Friday has just wrapped up, and we now have a look at the top three best-selling console SKUs in the US, thanks to Circana. There is a bit of a surprise here, and it manages to beat out both PlayStation and Xbox Series hardware. The NEX Playground.

The Nex Playground is a motion-controlled, family-oriented device that works in a similar way to the Xbox’s Kinect. It is not something I had ever heard of, but it is kind of cool to see an unknown system land in the top three. In case anyone was wondering, the Nintendo Switch 2 took the top spot for Black Friday sales (per individual SKUs).

EDIT: For clarity, the above information referred to individual SKUs rather than per brand. However, in another post, Mat Piscatella of Circana clarified that PlayStation 5 accounted for 47% of total sales over Black Friday, with Nintendo Switch 2 hitting 24%, and Nex Playground hitting 14%. The remaining 15%, we assume, went to Xbox Series X|S, but it's hardly a strong showing.

In the US, PlayStation 5 accounted for 47% of total Black Friday week hardware unit sales, leading the market. Nintendo Switch 2 ranked 2nd (24%), with the NEX Playground 3rd (14%). Source: Circana Retail Tracking Service

— @matpiscatella.bsky.social (@matpiscatella.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-12-07T17:41:05.658Z

In the UK, the situation wasn't much better for Xbox, with Microsoft's console out in third place. PS5 hit 62%, with Switch 2 at 23%, and Xbox a distant last in 10%. The Nex Playground isn't available in the UK as of writing.

Microsoft did zero sales for the Xbox Series X|S console over Black Friday, although some retailers did throw in gift cards and things like that in an attempt to shift some stock.

It paints an increasingly bleak picture for Microsoft's hardware aspirations, who have been forced to repeatedly insist that there will be another Xbox console, despite anaemic stock levels and near total abandonment of its current gen systems.

A missed chance for Xbox?

It is no secret that Microsoft, and therefore Xbox, often seems to miss out. From the closure of Windows Phone, Skype, Kinect, Cortana, and many others, the list is long. Looking at just those examples, it is easy to see how some, or even all of them, could be relevant today given current market conditions. Microsoft has diverted all attention away from its own hardware by pointing gamers towards other platforms to buy its games, while jacking up the price of Xbox Game Pass at the same time.

Another oversight could be the decision to kill Kinect. It was a device that was technically impressive and could have been reworked for a younger audience. It would have required foresight from Microsoft, but hindsight is 20/20, and it feels like yet another missed opportunity to add to the list.

Despite not making the US top sales in consoles for Black Friday, however, Microsoft is still putting stock in its hardware, and a recent report points to them seeking to expand Xbox manufacturing by 4.8 million devices per year, away from China. The figure includes all types of Xbox hardware, including consoles, potentially to prepare for the arrival of GTA 6 late 2026.

With rising prices across the board driven by AI, next-generation hardware is expected to be more expensive than ever, and Xbox's own Sarah Bond confirms this.

Storage and RAM costs continue to climb, and the closure of Crucial, one of the biggest consumer RAM and Storage manufacturers, only adds to the pressure.

It creates a turbulent moment for a hobby that once felt affordable, but is now becoming increasingly expensive thanks to tariffs and the growing demand for AI-focused components.

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