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The Xbox Series X/S had Microsoft’s best ever launch in the UK, selling around 155,000 thousand consoles in its first two days of sales.
Those sales figures narrowly beat out the Xbox One’s two day opening sales, which hit 150,000 in 2013. The confirmation of this comes from VGC, who spoke to producers from Microsoft. After the USA, the UK is Microsoft’s biggest console market, and success here is a good sign for Xbox’s future.
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This generation marks the first time Xbox has launched two consoles together, with the Xbox Series X the more powerful console, and the Xbox Series S the cheaper, digital only option. Of those 155,000 sales, the Xbox Series S is responsible for around a third.
With many retailers selling out completely, these sales numbers could have been even higher if there were enough consoles to meet demand. As it stands, the Xbox Series X/S had the UK’s third biggest console launch sales ever, with rivals Sony taking the top two spots.
Sony’s opening two day sales for the PS4 currently top the UK sales record, shifting a quarter of a million units. The PlayStation Portable, meanwhile, is in second place, with 185,000 sales.
Phil Spencer had earlier confirmed that the console had had Xbox’s most successful global launch ever, but had refused to confirm any official sales figures. Meanwhile, the PlayStation 5 is getting a staggered launch, with the console released in the USA, Japan, and other territories on November 12, but not coming to Europe until November 19.
Following the huge sales, several UK internet providers have reported record breaking usage, attributed to new Xbox players downloading the latest Call Of Duty update.
These sales figures did make for a bumpy launch, however. The high volume of new users led to Xbox Live going down, while some players received Xbox Series X consoles with faulty disc drives. There were also rumours of the console overheating and smoking, though this was quickly disproven with people faking the smoke through vaping.
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