Sony’s PlayStation 4 Reportedly Outselling Microsoft Xbox One 2-to-1
Are you a bigger fan of the PlayStation 4 or the Xbox One? If recent hints are anything to go by, the gap between the two should be fairly large. The PlayStation 4 is reportedly outselling the Xbox One by a 2-to-1 ratio.
Microsoft stopped reporting the number of Xbox One sales quite a while ago, so where then did the most recent numbers come from? A SuperData report about the Nintendo Switch offhandedly mentioned that there are currently 26 million Xbox One installed base units and 55 million PS4 units. These numbers were further confirmed by Daniel Ahmad, a digital games analyst for Niko China. He tweeted a graph that indicated Microsoft had sold between 25 to 30 million Xbox Ones. Sony announced a few weeks ago that they had sold 53.4 million PS4 units in 2016.
So, why did Sony dominate console sales this year? One reason could be that the upgraded PS4 Pro console was released two week before Black Friday. Interest in the new console combined with price cuts on the original version led to the best ever Black Friday week of sales in the history of the PlayStation. At least ten million units were sold during Black Friday sales, while another 3.4 million were purchased during the remainder of the holiday season. Sony also released its PlayStation 4 Slim this past September.
Microsoft was ahead of Sony a number of times this past year, particularly during the summer. On August 2nd, Microsoft launched the 2TB Xbox One S. The 500GB and 1TB versions hit retail shelves on August 23rd. It also slashed the prices of older Xbox One console to clear out inventory. Sony nevertheless appears to have won the holiday shopping season. Perhaps console fans are waiting for Project Scorpio, and Microsoft will dominate the game (pun intended) in 2017.
Microsoft stopped reporting the number of Xbox One sales quite a while ago, so where then did the most recent numbers come from? A SuperData report about the Nintendo Switch offhandedly mentioned that there are currently 26 million Xbox One installed base units and 55 million PS4 units. These numbers were further confirmed by Daniel Ahmad, a digital games analyst for Niko China. He tweeted a graph that indicated Microsoft had sold between 25 to 30 million Xbox Ones. Sony announced a few weeks ago that they had sold 53.4 million PS4 units in 2016.
So, why did Sony dominate console sales this year? One reason could be that the upgraded PS4 Pro console was released two week before Black Friday. Interest in the new console combined with price cuts on the original version led to the best ever Black Friday week of sales in the history of the PlayStation. At least ten million units were sold during Black Friday sales, while another 3.4 million were purchased during the remainder of the holiday season. Sony also released its PlayStation 4 Slim this past September.
Here is the same chart as before. But this time for Xbox sales.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) January 16, 2017
Note. Xbox One sales are estimated. Actual sales may vary. pic.twitter.com/ymHSt0KgNg
Microsoft was ahead of Sony a number of times this past year, particularly during the summer. On August 2nd, Microsoft launched the 2TB Xbox One S. The 500GB and 1TB versions hit retail shelves on August 23rd. It also slashed the prices of older Xbox One console to clear out inventory. Sony nevertheless appears to have won the holiday shopping season. Perhaps console fans are waiting for Project Scorpio, and Microsoft will dominate the game (pun intended) in 2017.
