Games By Matthew Humphries Apr. 18, 2014 7:28 am
Sony recently announced that sales of the PS4 had surpassed 7 million on April 6. That’s very impressive for a games console that has only been on sale since November, but hard to put into perspective when Microsoft’s last official sale figures for the Xbox One were released in January. But today Microsoft fixed that problem, and it is clear the Xbox One is firmly in second place right now.
The*Xbox One has just gone past 5 million units sold. That’s much faster than the Xbox 360 sold, but some 2 million consoles short of where the PS4 is. The other worrying thing for Microsoft is the fact the gap to Sony seems to be increasing. Back in January Microsoft reported 3 million sales compared to Sony’s 4.2 million. A difference of 1.2 million units. Jump ahead to today, and the gap has increased to 2 million units.
Other stats Microsoft release include the fact Xbox One owners are spending an average of 5 hours a day using the console, 2.9 games are selling per console, 311,000 new consoles were purchased during March alongside 1.4 million games, and Titanfall on Xbox One was the number one selling game in March.
5 million consoles in homes is certainly a great achievement, but Microsoft has to respond to the growing lead Sony is building with the PS4. It can do that with exclusive games that people want to play, but the biggest stumbling block is the price difference. The price needs to come down, and whether Microsoft likes it or not, shipping an Xbox One without a Kinect would also be attractive to a segment of the market. It seems unlikely Microsoft is willing to change its stance on the mandatory accessory just yet, though.
E3 is the next big gaming event, and Microsoft has to perform in order to create a buzz ahead of the all important Christmas period. There was a big leak back in January that detailed what Microsoft would likely be announcing at E3. That included a white model of the console, a 1TB edition, and a Halo 2 Anniversary and War Collection. Will a price drop be added to that list? Let’s hope so.
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The*Xbox One has just gone past 5 million units sold. That’s much faster than the Xbox 360 sold, but some 2 million consoles short of where the PS4 is. The other worrying thing for Microsoft is the fact the gap to Sony seems to be increasing. Back in January Microsoft reported 3 million sales compared to Sony’s 4.2 million. A difference of 1.2 million units. Jump ahead to today, and the gap has increased to 2 million units.
Other stats Microsoft release include the fact Xbox One owners are spending an average of 5 hours a day using the console, 2.9 games are selling per console, 311,000 new consoles were purchased during March alongside 1.4 million games, and Titanfall on Xbox One was the number one selling game in March.
5 million consoles in homes is certainly a great achievement, but Microsoft has to respond to the growing lead Sony is building with the PS4. It can do that with exclusive games that people want to play, but the biggest stumbling block is the price difference. The price needs to come down, and whether Microsoft likes it or not, shipping an Xbox One without a Kinect would also be attractive to a segment of the market. It seems unlikely Microsoft is willing to change its stance on the mandatory accessory just yet, though.
E3 is the next big gaming event, and Microsoft has to perform in order to create a buzz ahead of the all important Christmas period. There was a big leak back in January that detailed what Microsoft would likely be announcing at E3. That included a white model of the console, a 1TB edition, and a Halo 2 Anniversary and War Collection. Will a price drop be added to that list? Let’s hope so.
More...
