PS5 beats Switch, Series X sales in January due to wider availability

Sony's PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console in the United States in January 2022. The reason? The PS5 was more available than the Switch or Xbox Series X/S.

Today the NPD Group announced January 2022's games earnings to interesting results. Total video game spending was down 2% to $4,68 billion, but hardware spending was up a mighty 22% to $390 million. Last month actually had the highest hardware dollar spending since 2009.

The PS5 was the most popular system in January, out-selling competitors in both revenues and unit sales. The Xbox Series X was in second place, followed by the Nintendo Switch.

"PS5 ended up leading in both units and dollars because it had the most product available," NPD Group's executive director Mat Piscatella said.

"Console hardware remains supply constrained. Results are more reflective of available supply rather than pure demand."

The PS5 has currently sold 17.3 million units worldwide since Holiday 2021 and Sony has sold nearly 2 billion PS4 and PS5 games.