Pornhub’s latest Year in Review presents an eye-popping scene around console-based browsing: Visits from Xbox users dropped 69% while PlayStation held its ground and now comprises a ludicrous share of traffic from gaming hardware. Xbox accounts for a mere 2% of gaming device visits by the site’s count, with PlayStation claiming the other 98% — albeit while PS5 usage jumped by 11%.
It’s not necessarily about adult content, but about engagement trends. Consoles are also living room browsers, and the split here suggests Xbox owners are attending to that functionality significantly less than they used to, even as PlayStation owners maintain or increase usage.
Xbox Share Tumbles Amid Attention In Adult Site Traffic
A 69% drop is steep according to any web metric. While Pornhub does not provide an explanation for the decline, there are several plausible reasons. There isn’t an Xbox app for the platform, so we’re forced to navigate the Edge browser; it’s far less smooth that way (and leaves you susceptible to more parental/profile restrictions). Privacy friction alone can be enough to nudge users toward phones or PCs.
There’s also a larger market backdrop. Most analysts of the console generation from Circana have had PlayStation outselling Xbox, a gap that exaggerates usage. Microsoft’s price changes on hardware and Game Pass Ultimate could have further shifted where players spend their time and how, although causation here is impossible to prove.
PlayStation Retains The Living Room Browser Crown
That share is surprising, even considering PlayStation’s larger installed base. And the PS5 is increasingly a family media hub these days, if only because many of us also happen to have spent years paying attention to PlayStation’s interface — at least in its historical iteration. Sony hasn’t gone all in on adult apps either, but it’s hard to beat the combination of a big audience, consistent UX and a killer lineup of games that keeps the console parked under TVs — and relied on (apparently) for browsing.
Worth noting: PlayStation’s traffic notched up while PS5 use jumped 11% in Pornhub data. That matches what larger trends in income and industry tracking are showing, supporting the theory that console penetration leads to ancillary on-device behavior like surfing on the web.
Search Trends Heavily Influenced By Gaming Franchises
The report highlights how strongly gaming culture and adult fandoms intersect. The up-and-coming game Genshin Impact took over from Fortnite as the most-searched game, followed by Minecraft in third place and Overwatch and Pokémon to round out the top five. Marvel Rivals bowed at No. 6, illustrating how new arrivals can spawn immediate search interest.
It was Super Mario that saw the biggest jump, by 14 spots — a move the report connects to buzz for a next-gen Nintendo console. League of Legends, Apex Legends and Fallout all dropped five spots. For characters, Tifa (Final Fantasy) was the most popular, then Lara Croft (Tomb Raider), and in third place based on searches: Chun-Li (Street Fighter), reminding us that even legacy IP moves the needle.
Phones Still Rule, But Big Screens Are Back
Device mix shifted noticeably. Mobile traffic fell 3.5 percent but remained in the lead with 87 percent. Desktops surged 39 percent and tablets by 31 percent, pointing to some swing back toward larger screens for certain content. While Windows still forms the spine of desktop visits at 70.5%, Linux browsers spiked 22.4%, a fine but increasing wedge we can’t help but suspect also means power users who prefer more desktop control and customisation.
VR traffic from Meta Quest jumped 47.5%, yet remained only at a 1% share overall — good growth off a small base to begin with. It’s a sign of experimentation rather than something that will go mainstream, at least for the time being. As headsets become more comfortable, with optics and privacy features that are more evolved, there is no reason this niche will not continue to grow.
What This Shift Tells Us About Gaming Consoles
Pornhub’s fat pot is not a sales scoreboard but a behavioral signal. A per-console breakdown of browsing on Xbox suggests friction — interface, privacy, or just plain preference to pick up a phone — whereas relative stability on PlayStation implies they’re more comfortable using the console as a general-purpose media device.
For platform holders, it’s a practical lesson: when you build in a browser that’s fast, private and easy to use on a console, people use it. Larger living room screens and households relying on consoles as entertainment centers can turn small UX (user experience) and policy choices into unexpected use deltas. As the next wave of software updates and hardware refreshes comes in, see whether Xbox closes this gap — or if PlayStation continues to hold its near-monopoly on this oddball metric.
Methodology note: The numbers are based on Pornhub’s annual Year in Review, which pools anonymized traffic patterns across devices. Context on the console market from reporting and industry trackers like Circana, as well as statements from Sony and Microsoft.
