- Xbox reportedly had the worst year ever in the UK for console sales in 2025
- This is what The Game Business journalist Chris Dring tells us
- This comes on the back of steep price increases and a general decline in hardware sales
It’s grim reading if you’re an Xbox fan this year, as Microsoft’s console division has reportedly just had its worst year on the books – at least in the UK.
This is what The Game Business and former gamesindustry.biz journalist Chris Dring tells us. Dring took to X/Twitter to state that Xbox console sales “fell 39% in the UK during 2025, making it comfortably the worst year ever for Xbox consoles.”
In the same post, Dring appears to remain hopeful that the brand can turn things around. With several Xbox Game Studios titles in the 2026 pipeline, including Forza Horizon 6, Fable, and Gears of War E-Day, sales may increase.
Xbox console sales fell by 39% in the UK during 2025, making it comfortably the worst year ever for Xbox consoles. With the return of favorite Xbox franchises in 2026, can things get better this year?2 January 2026
However you slice it, it seems unlikely that Xbox hardware will make a miraculous recovery anytime soon.
In 2025, the prices of Xbox consoles skyrocketed. And paired with the thousands of layoffs that occurred across Xbox Game Studios, not to mention several high-profile project cancellations including Perfect darkness reboot, it looks like a company that will need more than a year or two to get things back on track.
However, it looks like Microsoft might be quietly retiring the Xbox brand. Or at least refocus his priorities. Back in October, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said, “We’re working to lower the barrier to entry for people to play our games through services like Xbox Play Anywhere and Xbox Game Pass,” following the success of titles such as Doom: The Dark Ages and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on competing hardware.
The next Xbox console is also likely to be a PC console hybrid, potentially similar to Valve’s upcoming Steam Machine.
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