TECH NEWS – The Christmas gift-buying season is well underway, and Sony’s PlayStation 5 looks set to be one of the most popular gifts this year.

Online retailer Rakuten has conducted a study which reveals that the PlayStation 5 is the best-selling Christmas gift this year. The company ranked the PS 5 at the top of its list of Christmas gifts for 2022 in the US.

Sony’s latest console was released in November 2020, but fans initially found it very difficult to get their hands on the machine.

Part of the reason was that the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted production and supply chains. This reduced the available stocks of consoles and made it harder to restock them. Coupled with the high demand for the console, even big-name stores like Walmart immediately ran out of PlayStation 5 consoles. Although supply chain problems have been fixed, demand for the next-generation console is still sky-high.

Rakuten used Google Trends to research which products are most in demand in each US state over the Christmas period. Their study showed that the PlayStation 5 came out on top. It was the most popular product in thirteen states, including Louisiana, Texas, Florida and Utah. The Nintendo Switch came in second, with ten states ranking it as the best-selling product. This is not surprising, given the high demand for the Switch. But third place breaks the pattern for game consoles. The iPad was the best-selling product in seven states, including Indiana, Hawaii and West Virginia.

The next-generation gaming console is trendy, so it’s no surprise that it tops the search charts in thirteen states.

What is surprising, however, is that the PlayStation’s main rival, Microsoft’s Xbox Series X, is only fifth on the list. It was the most searched item in five states. This is significantly lower than the PlayStation 5’s ranking in thirteen states. The Xbox Series X showed similar shortcomings to the PS 5. But it seems that for some reason, the next generation Xbox console was not as in demand as the PlayStation.

One of the reasons why the PlayStation 5 is in such high demand may be that the volume of PlayStation exclusives is considered to be better than Xbox exclusives. With big titles such as Horizon Zero Dawn, God of War: Ragnarök, The Last of Us and Marvel’s Spider-Man, it makes sense that buyers would want to get their hands on the PlayStation 5 to play these games to the fullest. Nintendo is also known for having top-rated exclusive games. This may explain the top two places on Rakuten’s list. Any console will always have hardcore fans – and of course, PC. But it looks like Playstation 5 will take home the trophy this Christmas season.

Source: Ratuken