PlayStation and Xbox: The games that attracted the most new players over the holidays
We round off our holiday coverage with a look at our console estimates. Plus, we answer the question, ‘’do Xbox players over-index for shooters?’’
Earlier this week, we covered what Steam players sank their teeth into during two of the holiday’s most critical weeks for purchases. Console’s up next.
The top PlayStation games by NEW players during the holidays
In the two weeks between Dec 21 and January 4, the top five PlayStation games by new players were:
As you can see, EA SPORTS FC 26 continued do well across PS5 and PS4 consoles, amassing over 1.6 million new players.
The two weeks helped FC 26 pass the 13-million player milestone on PlayStation. PS5 accounts for 73% of the total player base. And Europe is – of course – the top market for FC 26 players, accounting for 37%. Although Asia isn’t far behind, with 34%.
FC is performing well and monetising better than the previous edition. But when we launch-align the player counts of FC 25 and FC 26, we found that players are down 17% for the new edition. FC 26 is at 13.8M players 110 days in vs. 16.6M for FC 25 when that was 110 days in.
As for the rest of the PlayStation ranking by new players:
Grand Theft Auto V (#2) attracted nearly a million new players between Dec 21 and Jan 4, mostly thanks to its strategic placement on the PS Plus catalogue. While GTA V generally still sells between 150K and 300K new copies every two weeks on PlayStation, the subscription inclusion lowers the barrier even further. This funnels more folks into GTA Online, where some will convert to paying customers. That’s the play, anyway.
NBA 2K26 (#3) slam-dunked 653K new players on PlayStation. It’s approaching 6M players overall on Sony’s platform. The audience shows the undeniable power of the American market and its sports fans, as 76% of the userbase is from the U.S. – a stark contrast to FC 26’s 13%. Launch aligned, NBA 2K26’s PlayStation player base is up 4% over the previous game. The older NBA title was performing better at first, but a well-timed 60% discount helped change that during the holiday period.
The Outlast Trials (#4) leveraged its inclusion on PS Plus to reach 638K new players. The co-op horror experience is bringing in around 150K DAUs still on PlayStation, showing that the budget co-op horror trend (subscription access in this case) can land on console as well as Steam. Our data shows that the vast majority of The Outlast Trials players (over 60%) have never played an Outlast game before, acquiring new fans for Red Barrel’s now-iconic horror franchise.
ARC Raiders (#5) rounded out the top five with 627 K new players in the two-week period. As we discussed the newsletter earlier this week, ARC’s momentum just keeps on going.
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Xbox, you’re up.
The top Xbox games by NEW players during the holidays
Xbox’s top 5 games by new players had plenty of overlap with PlayStation, but the ordering was different (due to platform preferences and geographies), and Game Pass also had an impact:
As you can see, December’s Game Pass additions of Mortal Kombat 1 (#3 with 377K) and A Game About Digging a Hole (#4 with 289K) helped both games chart.
Let’s have a look at the reasoning for some of the differences between Xbox and PlayStation players’ tastes.
Why shooters typically over-index on Xbox
Compared to PlayStation players, Xbox players tend to over-index for online shooter games (relative to the install base). This is doubly true when looking at games mostly popular in the West. For example, our copies sold estimates show that:
Xbox accounts for 20% of ARC Raiders copies sold vs. 23% for PS5.
Xbox accounts for 20% of Borderlands 4 copies sold vs. 26% for PS5
Xbox accounts for 28% of Apex Legends copies sold vs. 33% for PlayStation
When we look at single-player-first, non-shooter franchises, the data tells a very different story:
Xbox accounts for 19% of Elden Ring copies sold vs. PlayStation’s 39%.
Xbox accounts for 10% of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 copies vs. 22% for PS5.
Xbox accounts for 18% of Hogwarts Legacy copies vs. 42% for PlayStation.
These are the factors I tend to look at to explain these differences:
Geographical distribution plays a big role: Xbox has a lighter presence in Asian and some European markets where single-player titles perform well. These regions generally favour role-playing games and narrative-driven adventures. Because the Xbox user base is so heavily concentrated in the US and UK, the platform essentially serves as a regional stronghold for the genres most popular in those territories, specifically first-person and third-person shooters.
Xbox’s online-shooter history influences how modern players spend their time. Xbox built its reputation on foundational multiplayer franchises like Halo and Gears, which originally attracted a demographic that views the console as the primary destination for online play. Xbox Live put console online gaming on the map (or at least popularised it – sorry, Dreamcast). Many current Xbox players are those same people who came in during the Xbox 360 days, and their tastes have been like my favourite Halo grenades: Sticky.
Sony’s cinematic strategy: PlayStation, though, has spent several years positioning itself as the home for cinematic and prestige single-player gaming. This established brand identity – and the higher installed base – helps explain why single-player games typically see more than double the engagement on PS5 compared to Xbox. Players who seek out deep, immersive stories naturally gravitate toward the platform that’s historically championed those types of experiences.
Game Pass’ prominence among core Xbox players: Of course, plenty of Xbox players are still subscribed to Game Pass Ultimate, so they also get access to a suite of single-player experiences on day one as part of their sub – Avowed, Oblivion Remastered, and Expedition 33, to name a few. That’ll have an impact as well.
Cool links and other stuff
It’s our first week back after the holidays, and we’ve kicked it off with a bang. Our ARC Raiders numbers from last week’s newsletter were picked up by GameSpot, Eurogamer, GamesRadar, and more.
We also talked to our buddies at GamesIndustry.biz about Splitgate: Arena Reloaded’s performance on console.
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The last word
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