PS4 Outsells Xbox One by Nearly Two-to-One in the US Last Month

[Yopaz]

This really surprises me. The games list for both consoles is nearly the same, and I don't think either console has anything that really sets it above the other at this point. I only reason I can see the PS4 doing that well is the blowback from the Xbone originally having online DRM.

Really, I think the PS4 being $100 less is mainly what's driving this. Why pay $100 more when the games are essentially the same?

Especially as that extra 100 is for something many people find repulsive. More then a few gamers would find the kinect a dealbreaker if they GOT a $100 to have it included on their console.

This launch has gone exactly as i predicted.

Also add the fact that it's slightly weaker than the PS4.

OT: While it is fun to jump on the Microsoft is screwed bandwagon it has actually surpassed their sales projections which is surprising to me at least. It's just that they're facing the PS4 which seems to be doing a lot better. Now the release date of the Xbox One is still not announced here, but it looks like it will be in the second half of this year. Considering Europe is usually more of a Sony dominated market this is not good. They let the Kinect drive up the prices and the Kinect is the reason for a massive delay giving Sony half a year at the best (or worst depending on who you side with) and it's a feature few actually wanted. So while the Xbox One is doing quite good right now I am having some difficulties seeing it measure up to the PS4.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

That's interesting given that North America has been the Xbox stronghold for a long time. Still, given the way Microsoft went about their business I'm hardly surprised. I own a Xbox One and I can definitely say I'm happy with it, but I still think that both Sony and Microsoft (more Microsoft) should have held off on their next gen consoles for a while. They seem a little under-cooked.

 

[Pinky's Brain]

Microsoft needs Halo 5.

 

[Alex Co]

This really surprises me. The games list for both consoles is nearly the same, and I don't think either console has anything that really sets it above the other at this point. I only reason I can see the PS4 doing that well is the blowback from the Xbone originally having online DRM.

Less terrible PR blowback, no always on Kinect, 100$ cheaper. They've also threw in the free PSplus trial, which thus far meant you got Contrast, Outlast, Resogun, and Don't Starve as freebies.

Don't forget the free $10 PSN fund given to early buyers! That's a nice way to get people buying PSN games.

From the reaction here, and from people I've talked to, Kinect is something no one wants. Sure, there might be a few who does, but for the most part, gamers don't need it. If MS pulled it, and priced it at $100 lower and maybe bundle a game, I can see it doing better. Of course, there's the whole technically inferior thing, which a lot of third-party games are already showing this early on. That might be the most worrying thing if I was MS. Most Xbox One games these days are technically inferior to their PS4 counterparts. So much so, that all the buzz how MS will supposedly release a firmware update to free more Xbox One processing power/GPU sounds like a much needed solution right now.

As for Titanfall, the game looks really fun, but seeing as it's also on PC and the Xbox 360 -- and Zampella's tweets that all but confirm the sequel coming to PS4 -- then, it might not move as much units as MS would have hoped.

We'll know for sure once the next NPD data rolls in.

 

[blalien]

This really surprises me. The games list for both consoles is nearly the same, and I don't think either console has anything that really sets it above the other at this point. I only reason I can see the PS4 doing that well is the blowback from the Xbone originally having online DRM.

Less terrible PR blowback, no always on Kinect, 100$ cheaper. They've also threw in the free PSplus trial, which thus far meant you got Contrast, Outlast, Resogun, and Don't Starve as freebies.

I thought the Xbone was more expensive specifically because of the Kinect. I guess it's not that much of a system seller.

 

[AzrealMaximillion]

This really surprises me. The games list for both consoles is nearly the same, and I don't think either console has anything that really sets it above the other at this point. I only reason I can see the PS4 doing that well is the blowback from the Xbone originally having online DRM.

I think that the PS4 sales being higher despite the launch titles being the same is due to the Playstation's history of having many 2nd and 3rd Party titles that become sleeper hits. The PS Brand still ports over some of Japan's PS exclusives and they do sell decently for the most part.

Games like Demon's Souls which sold over 1 million as a PS3 exclusive with only word of mouth as marketing for many months ahead of its release.

Games like the console titles imported by Atlus and Nis America do well with a lot of gamers that want Japanese styled games.

Randomly interesting sleeper hits like The Mark of Kri on the PS2 as well as Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.

The niche titles that pop up on Nintendo consoles in the form of The Wonderful 101 and No More Heroes pop up all of the time on the Playstation consoles.

Katamari Damacy anyone?

That subset of console gamers is also bolstered by the fact that a lot of those games aren't on the PC at all so they pretty much have to grab a Playstation in order to get those kinds of games.

Not everyone that buys a Playstation is buying it for the triple A titles from the big guys. Once those offbeat Asian sleeper hits come in you'll see why people adopted their PS4s early. The X1 and PS4 will always share the titles of the major companies, but Xbox's brand has always carried the brunt of not having the audience that enjoys stuff like JRPGs. Most JRPGs not named Final Fantasy don't sell well on the Xbox. Major JRPGs like Star Ocean, Tales of, and the other non-FF RPGs Sqeeenix made for the 360 all bombed and whatever ones got ported to the PS3 sold significantly better. It's kind of like why most 3rd party titles that don't involve Nintendo characters flop on Nintendo consoles. The audience there is there for Nintendo in most cases. The Xbox audience is there for the online shooters and high octane action titles. The Playstation audience is the most varied of the 3. Some like the shooters and high octane games. Some like the offbeat titles that get imported from Japan and elsewhere.

And some frankly bought it because it's still a better blue ray player than an actual blue ray player as well as it being the easiest way to utilize Netflix

 

[fix-the-spade]

This really surprises me. The games list for both consoles is nearly the same, and I don't think either console has anything that really sets it above the other at this point. I only reason I can see the PS4 doing that well is the blowback from the Xbone originally having online DRM.

Alternatively, the extra $100 you get to keep in your wallet when buying a PS4 might be helping. You said it yourself, there's very little to set them apart, but the PS4 is a hundred cheaper, so why would anyone buy the Xbone?

 

[Atmos Duality]

Cue a Microsoft exec saying 'It's not about sales figures. Stop trolling!'

I really really hope they do, just so I can put it side by side with their previous public display of bragging about outselling their competition.

 

[Scorpid]

Their problem is that there are no good games for Kinect to justify it being forced on consumers. It's a gimmick that everyone except apparently microsoft has seen through. What is really sad though, is that like Nintendo and unlike Sony its microsofts much needed attempt to really make their console more then a midrange PC (Except of course with it being completely corporately controlled from top to bottom.). Beyond just never ever entertaining the notion of the build in DRM, they should never allowed any Kinect games that could not absolutely prove the viability of the Kinect as a gaming device, hell even if it meant they had to give money to a developer themselves to make sure the game worked exactly as advertised. I mean I cannot think of a Kinect or PS move game that didn't get completely laid into by critics, the best example I can think of is the Star Wars game, but then that caused those silly fanboys to, for the thousandth time, gnash their teeth and cry about how Star Wars is over exploited.

 

[el_kabong]

I think the large leap has mostly to do with that supply is gradually starting to catch up. Besides a bump in Xbone from potential Titanfall sales, I think this gap is only going to get worse.

The problem I have with it is that I own a PS4. If they're winning, they might think they can rest on their laurels. They need to pump WAY more work into getting some games developed. I downloaded a game I had no interest in (Don't Starve) just because it was free and I don't really have any other options (btw - despite me having no interest, I did enjoy it quite a lot).

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

Well, I sure am glad I picked Sony for this generation, it sounds like its servers are going to be a lot fuller than Microsoft's. Too bad I lost all my Xbox friends in the switch. I hadn't been keeping up with many of them, so now even if they're also playing PS4 I have no idea what their names are.

 

[Ashley Blalock]

When I've thought about if I should buy a new system or not most of what I think about with the X-Box One are negative things. Do I really want to pay more for X-Box than the Playstation? Do I really want to deal with the Kinect, because it kind of sounds like if in ye olde gaming days if you were forced to use the Power Glove? Ouch and do I really want to pay extra to play against other people when I could play against other people on the PC games for free?

X-Box needs more positives to pop to mind than negatives.

 

[Colt47]

The PS4 pretty much trumps the Xbox one in just about every respect except maybe television integration. They are also starting to hurt themselves in the enterprise areas as well.

 

[Ieyke]

This really surprises me. The games list for both consoles is nearly the same, and I don't think either console has anything that really sets it above the other at this point. I only reason I can see the PS4 doing that well is the blowback from the Xbone originally having online DRM.

The PS4 is more powerful, has a better interface, looks better, is waaaaaay smaller, has the better controller, has a better online subscription model and services setup, PS4 versions of games run better than their Xbone counterparts, the Xbone costs $100 more and comes with a stupid camera that doesn't really work and no one wants.

Basically there's nothing BUT reasons to get a PS4 over an Xbone.

 

[Rewdalf]

I got a 360 to play with my friends online.
Until the Xbox One gains backwards compatibility, if it ever does, I'm not touching it.
Nor do I feel like I need a PS4.

I've got my PC, I've got my non-gold membership 360, and that's about it.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

When microsoft said they were going to release the more expensive console later, I couldn't believe it...

...What?! I don't recall reading about this but then, I haven't read up on the XBone too often since its release. If Microsoft really wants to move more XBones, they're going to have to release a Kinect-Free version alongside their stupid, stupid expensive Bone.

---

My guess would be, if Microsoft fails to sell more Bones once Titanfall is out, it'll use Halo-Possibly-5-Possibly-Side-Story as its last ditch effort to move Bones. If the investors are really serious about Microsoft dropping Bing and, XBox (and whatever the third thing was) then they'll likely insist upon dropping Xbox if those two killer apps fail.

Whatever happens though, I wouldn't be surprised if the XBone goes the way of the HD-DVD player. I'm going to say the controversial thing now and also assume out loud that Nintendo will remain in business to see the Bone get buried.

 

[TomWiley]

Well a lot can, and will, happen in 7 years so It'll be interesting to see where this goes. I'm just hoping for intense competition between the two

 

[Saltyk]

I do wonder if this is just a blip, or an actual trend that we shall see. Current sales data shows that PS4 is outselling both competitors in any region they are in.

It's actually very surprising to see that PS4 has a slight lead in North America. Despite greater overall sales of the PS3, the 360 sold nearly twice as well as the PS3 in North America. This was likely due to the lower price point and headstart that the console had. Advantages that it lost this generation. But, I'd expect brand loyalty and such to hold some people, though.
Though the only person I know really favoring Xbox One over PS4 is rather xenophobic... Yeah, I'm not exactly wanting to be associated with that.

It's rather hard to say how this will play out in the long run. Currently, it certainly seems to favor Sony and I do wonder how Micosoft's shareholders will take this sort of news considering that, by all accounts, they want to sell off the Xbox division (as well as Bing).

I'm not certain if Titanfall will be enough considering it isn't an exclusive and I was personally only interested if it was on PS4. And beyond that, I don't think there are any games that people are excited about on the Xbox One. Though, seeing how things went this generation, they could certainly turn this around. Dropping Kinect and a price drop certainly wouldn't hurt that.