Xbox One X first week sales equal those of Nintendo Switch

Microsoft's powerful Xbox One X console has sold 80,000 units during its first week on sale in the UK. The figure is equal to the number of Switch consoles Nintendo sold when the console launched in March.

The figure has been published by GamesIndustry.biz, which compares the number to the first week sales of Sony's 4K-capable PlayStation 4 Pro, which launched in November 2016 and sold 50,000 units during its first week.

It took the PS4 Pro four weeks to hit 80,000 units sold. Stock shortages of both PS4 Pro and Nintendo Switch will have affected their sales performance.

The majority of Xbox One X consoles sold were the special Project Scorpio edition which has a different finish and 'Project Scorpio' (the hardware's code name) embossed on the machine and its controller.

Microsoft's solid sales start will have been encouraged by a busy release schedule which has seen the likes of Call of Duty: WW2, Assassin's Creed Origins, Fifa 18 and Forza Motorsport 7 released in recent weeks.

According to GfK Chart-Track's retail sales data, all four of the aforementioned games featured in the top five best-selling Xbox One games at retail last week. Other new releases including Need for Speed Payback and Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus also featured.

Xbox One X lives up to its billing as "the world's most powerful console", impressively improving the performance of all games on the system, and able to run many that choose to support it in 4K resolution and at a smooth 60 frames per second.

More than 70 games supported Xbox One X at launch, with that number set to increase each week.

Microsoft's original Xbox One was released in late 2013 alongside Sony's PS4, which it quickly fell behind in terms of sales thanks to the console's disastrous unveiling and the company's decision to back-peddle on a number of key decisions it had made.

In many ways, Xbox One X is the culmination of years of trying to repair the Xbox brand.

Due to its large £450 price tag it's unlikely Xbox One X will continue to sell well like Nintendo Switch did, but the week one figures are still a strong start for Microsoft.