This gaming console you’ve probably never heard of was one of Black Friday’s best sellers

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A surprising hit during this year’s Black Friday sales was the NEX Playground – a gaming console that’s largely unknown to most shoppers.

Black Friday has changed a lot! It used to be a one-day shopping event at physical stores, but now it usually lasts for a whole week and includes online sales as well.

Now that sales are easier to find, major brands usually lower their prices to attract shoppers. This is also true for video game consoles, which saw a 7% increase in sales compared to last year, according to Circana data.

The PlayStation 5 was the top-selling console on Black Friday in the US, capturing 47% of sales. Nintendo Switch took second place with 24%. Surprisingly, the NEX Playground came in third.

NEX Playground sales greater than Xbox over Black Friday

For years, Sony’s PlayStation, Nintendo’s Switch, and Microsoft’s Xbox have been the leading gaming consoles. But this year was different – NEX Playground surprisingly came in third place.

So, here in the US, the NEX Playground console grabbed about 14% of all console sales recently. They didn’t give us exact numbers for Xbox here, but over in the UK during Black Friday, the Xbox Series X|S made up around 10% of the sales – which gives you a pretty good idea of how things are going.

The NEX Playground is a new, budget-friendly device that launched in late 2023 for $199. It uses a motion-sensor camera – similar to the older Xbox Kinect – letting you play games like Fruit Ninja without needing a controller.

Even though it’s a newer product, the device still outsold the combined Xbox Series X and Series S consoles during Black Friday. It’s possible this was due to bigger discounts offered on the device compared to the Xbox consoles during the sale.

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2025-12-08 12:48