US survey data shows intriguing divide between potential PS5 and Xbox Series X buyers

A recent survey of buying intent for the next generation consoles in the US, the single most important market for such devices, showed that the PlayStation 5 and XBox Series X had small but significant differences in the demographics they appealed to.

The data comes from CivicScience.com.

As expected, the current generation market-leader PlayStation maintained a significant lead when looking at which console gamers were most excited by, a lead that had remained steady across the year. With 57 per cent of gamers surveyed choosing it, over 43 per cent for Xbox Series X.

However, when buying decisions were taken into consideration, the data was essentially the same. With around 9 per cent of the population considering themselves likely to purchase the new Xbox Series X, and 10 per cent for the PS5. WIth the rest undecided or not likely to buy either.

The survey data, despite being taken in mid September, notably doesn’t account for the Xbox Series S.

In terms of household income the new Xbox attracts a significantly higher percentage of top-tier earners, with 45 per cent of those thinking of buying the console earning over $100k per annum, compared to 36 per cent of likely PS5 buyers.

On the other side, the PS5 had a strong lead among those who played games daily, with potential Xbox purchasers, playing less frequently. This is likely down to a younger generation owning more PlayStation consoles than Xbox consoles, given Sony’s upper hand over the last seven years. While Xbox was still popular amongst those who ‘never’ play games, most likely parents.

TLDR. Those planning to buy the Xbox are richer and often parents, while PlayStation’s likely purchasers are actually putting more hours in. Although all that is probably more a reflection of the current generation’s successes than anything else, it does look like Xbox is coming back to parity after what has been a relatively tough generation for the platform.