PlayStation 4 sales double that of Xbox One in first year

If you’ve been following the sales of Microsoft and Sony’s next gen consoles, you’ll know that the PS4 has been outselling its rival each month. However, a year after they went on sale we finally get to see the scale of the sales difference between the two.

In the last quarter, Sony shipped 4.1 million PlayStations globally, of which 3.3 million were PlayStation 4s. Microsoft on the other hand shipped 2.4 million Xbox units. Now we don’t know how many of those were Xbox Ones, and how many were Xbox 360s (Microsoft doesn’t provide a breakdown), but given the older console still sells very well, it’s safe to assume the PS4 sales were double that of the Xbox One in that quarter. Now, let’s look at the bigger picture.

Since launch, the PS4 has shipped 13.5 million PlayStation 4’s. Microsoft hasn’t revealed exact Xbox One numbers since April when we heard that the tech giant had shipped 5 million Xbox One units. We do know it has shipped another 3.5 million Xbox One/Xbox 360 consoles after then (2.4 million this past quarter, and 1.1 million the quarter before). So we’re likely looking at a total of around 7 million Xbox Ones. If that’s correct, then the PS4 has sold nearly twice as many consoles as its rival. Interestingly, it looks as if the much derided Wii U has managed similar numbers to the Xbox One.

Before you jump up and down shouting "shipments aren’t sales" let me stop you there. You are right -- they aren’t. But in terms of consoles, shipments do usually translate into sales given a month or so. We’re not going to discover a few million PS4s sitting in warehouses (unlike, say, the original Surface). If Sony ships 4.1 million consoles in a quarter, it will likely have sold that figure, or close to, a month after the end of the quarter. Consoles shipments/sales isn’t a precise science, but it’s close enough.

Obviously it’s still very early days for both consoles. While the PS4 is comfortably outselling its rival, price cuts, new territories (the Xbox One finally arrived, officially, in China last month), and the launch of quality platform exclusive games can all have a major impact and shift the landscape significantly.

Either way, the 2014 holiday shopping season will certainly be an interesting one for both consoles.

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