Xbox Dominates US Black Friday Retail Console Sales

[Karloff]

Xbox Dominates US Black Friday Retail Console Sales

One analyst claims lack of supply hurt the PS4 on Black Friday.

Black Friday, one of the biggest dates in a North American retailer's calendar, was very good to Microsoft this year. The Xbox One outsold all its competition in the States, taking a 31% share of the market, and its Xbox 360 also did well. In total, the two devices accounted for 61% of all consoles sold.

Most buyers - about 80% - were purchasing as gifts for Christmas, and those same buyers also bought about two titles each, on average. "It's the only system that has the game my kids want," one purchaser is quoted as saying [http://blog.infoscout.co/black-friday-console-war/]. "I'm not happy about it." The Xbox One retails at $499, but the 360 was heavily discounted, a factor that probably helped it achieve such great sales ratings.

The PS3 and PS4 accounted for roughly 30% of sales. "Microsoft's success can be largely attributed to limited availability of the PS4," claims analyst Jon Brelig, "in addition to Walmart discounting the Xbox 360 down to $99 for Black Friday." That may be true, but then the PS4 launched a week earlier in the States and enjoyed excellent sales [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129714-PlayStation-4-Sells-a-Million-Units-in-24-Hours]. It could just be that the people who wanted a PS4 picked theirs up before Black Friday.

Source: CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/440880/xbox-one-dominated-black-friday-sales-according-to-analyst/]


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[Guiltyone]

Oh man. Insert fanboy rage. Also conspiracy theories.
Good job Xbox

 

[Andy Shandy]

Good for Microsoft.

Although I guess that Sony's limited supply was not helped by the fact they were launching in Europe on Black Friday. But that's their own fault, since they picked the dates (because apparently simultaneous releases are still not a thing yet for some daft reason) to put it out on.

 

[TiberiusEsuriens]

Makes perfect sense considering the PS4 was/is still sold out in most regions. People buy what they see, especially parents will screaming children.

 

[JoJo]

Consumers, I am disappoint.

But no seriously, I guess this is good since a healthy rivalry between Microsoft and Sony will keep the two in competition to provide good services and not charge too much, a monopoly would hurt us the consumers in the end, as much as part of me would have liked to have seen the Xbone tank on launch day.

 

[Alandoril]

Seems logical since the PS4 launched earlier, so as said anyone who wanted one right away picked one up already, and America has always been primarily Xbox territory.

 

[Dr.Awkward]

You know how it is - The usual uninformed consumer would rather buy the product that was made in or by a company that is from their country instead of buying the product that was made in some country offshore where the labor laws are very lax or nonexistent, regardless of quality or price...

 

[Colt47]

I remember walking through the stores on black Friday. The only consoles left to buy at my local Best Buy and Target were the Xbox One, PS3, Wii Mini (why do they make you?!), Xbox 360, Wii U, and any DS model that doesn't have the number 3 and the letters XL in it. The only reason anyone was getting a Xbox One is due to there being no PS4 game consoles anywhere. You could get the controllers and games, though.

I'm going to upgrade my 3ds to an XL model someday... =(

 

[BloodSquirrel]

Hey, the Wii U managed 6%. I'm honestly impressed.

 

[Colt47]

Hey, the Wii U managed 6%. I'm honestly impressed.

It's probably the only home console worth buying at the moment if someone really felt like they had to throw their weight into next gen and already own a last gen PS3 or Xbox 360. The launch line up for the XBone and PS4 are largely spectacle.

 

[Akisa]

This is bad news indeed, I was kind of hoping that Microsoft and/or publishers get punished for the mircotransaction stuff.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

It's so disappointing to see all those people buying gaming systems that barely have any games.

 

[Vivi22]

Oh man. Insert fanboy rage. Also conspiracy theories.
Good job Xbox

Who needs conspiracy theories? Most gamers are uneducated when it comes to gaming news, and with 80% of buyers buying gifts for loved ones, how many probably thought "well I know they have the old XBox, so I guess I'll just get them the new one?"

 

[GoddyofAus]

All because there weren't enough PS4's left to find.

 

[FalloutJack]

It could just be that the people who wanted a PS4 picked theirs up before Black Friday.

To be honest, while this isn't all of it, it's a significant chunk of it. Many people don't want to endure the hell of Black Friday, both customers and workers alike. And by god, people have DIED in the name of releases of games, consoles, computer equipment, and you can triple that for Black Friday, I'm sure.

On a sidenote, ouch for Nintendo.

 

[Sanunes]

Oh man. Insert fanboy rage. Also conspiracy theories.
Good job Xbox

Who needs conspiracy theories? Most gamers are uneducated when it comes to gaming news, and with 80% of buyers buying gifts for loved ones, how many probably thought "well I know they have the old XBox, so I guess I'll just get them the new one?"

I guess I am uneducated too, for I can't trust Sony after how they treated their customers during the PSN hack. If they were more upfront I would have left with "bad stuff happens move along", but with them delaying warning their customers for as long as they did I think it was a poor example of how they care about their users privacy.

I do agree that probably the main reason why the PS4 sales are low compared to the Xbox 1 is because of how they are distributing the consoles, but to me this was also a major mistake by Sony because Black Friday is a major US sales day and not to have consoles available just handed those sales to Microsoft.

 

[StormShaun]

Well, I shall congratulate Microsoft for this. Sure I may not like the Xbox One for now but I am liking the graphical movement ... yet I still think the launch titles for both console are bad.

One analyst claims lack of supply hurt the PS4 on Black Friday.

Lack of stock ... that term is being thrown around lately in my area.
Apparently Australia barely got any PS4 stock, heck I even didn't get it on the 29th and it was my birthday!
I went in days early and a Eb Games (Gamestop to America I think?) member told me that "Australia did not get much stock due to Sony sending most of it to America".

I'm going to guess that his is Sony's fault for not creating enough stock for most countries ... [sub][sub]and not treating other countries equally but that is my opinion.[/sub][/sub]
This does seriously annoy me, not much as the Microsoft/Xbox One screw up WAY back ... but this does annoy me.

Now time to look back upon my shelf where my a hundred dollar PS4 copy of Assassins Creed 4 waits for its mama.
[sub][sub]Another reason why I want to move to America.[/sub][/sub]
I really should have just said "F*ck it* and waited later to get a 'current' generation console, but the draw from Infamous: Second Sons was too much.

 

[Slash2x]

.... Percentages are such bullshit.... 100 units in a store. 31 of them are Xbones because nobody bought them the week before, 15 of them are PS4s because that is all that was sent in the truck that morning. And the rest are just what is on hand. So 31 percent of the units sold were indeed Xbones and 15% were PS4s... But that has ZERO bearing on demand or the NUMBER of units sold that is JUST the percentage.

Now fast forward to the returns and see how many people are pissed granny got a Xbone instead of a PS4 because that is all that was there.... Lets see the return rate.