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PS4 Outsold the Xbox One by Almost Double Last Month

By - Source: Tom's Hardware US | B 40 comments

PS4 on top for sales in the United States.

Sony's PS4 and Microsoft's Xbox One were released at the end of last year and both have enjoyed successful launches. Now, several months on, the launch frenzy has settled down and we're able to take a proper look at how each console is doing in terms of sales. According to NPD's data for January, the PS4 outsold the Xbox One in terms of units sold. By a lot.

Microsoft announced yesterday that it had shipped 2.27 million units in the U.S. The news was revealed in a lengthy blog post on Xbox.com where the company proudly exclaimed that it is leading U.S. software game sales. Over on Sony's official PlayStation blog, the PS4 maker was focusing on another statistic. There, Sony revealed that it had sold nearly double the number consoles compared to "the nearest next gen competitor," in the U.S. Not only that, but the company has sold every PS4 available in the United States.

At launch, Xbox One definitely had the upper hand when it came to who had the longer list of exclusive titles. However, priced at $100 more, the Xbox One is less attractive for price-sensitive customers looking to get on board with the next generation of console hardware. Especially around the holidays, when people are generally more strapped for cash than other times of the year. Microsoft has said it has no plans to ditch Kinect to make the console cheaper, so it will have to rely on exclusive titles to maintain an edge over PS4. Titanfall is set to be one of the biggest games of the year, and it's launching in March on Xbox and PC only. On the flip-side of that argument, Sony also has a number of exclusive titles, including Infamous: Second Son, which also launches next month. It'll be interesting to see how console sales progress as 2014 wears on.

These measurements are based on U.S. sales along, which is probably the fairest comparison. Global data would likely be a little skewed thanks to the fact that the PS4 is available in 53 countries while the Xbox One is still only available in the 13 countries in which it launched way back in November. The console will hit Japan, as well as several other 'tier 2' countries, later this year, though Microsoft has yet to specify a release date for that launch.

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Top Comments
  • 13 Hide
    stevejnb , February 14, 2014 4:43 PM
    Stimpack... While there is no question that MS has made a debacle of the XBOX One's launch, based on your comments about what you think Sony is not, are you completely unfamiliar with Sony's history concerning relationship with the consumer? Whether it's rootkits or sacrificing goats in PR stunts or "if the consumer wants one, they can just work a little harder" or just outright charging significantly more for their products than the competition... Do you really believe the benevolent good guys here more than just a company that is astoundingly arrogant that is sucking up to a consumer that was jumping ship on them?
  • 10 Hide
    wafflestomper , February 14, 2014 4:19 PM
    Quote:
    And maybe because the ps4 is faster by ~30%? Meaning it runs games at 1080p where xbone is at 720/900p? (Not all the time, but some of the time)Or how about that not everyone wants to rely on their internet for rendering frames/lighting in microsoft's big releases? Or that microsoft scared off a bunch of customers with DRM?
    Yeah, plus it's $100 cheaper.
Other Comments
  • 2 Hide
    Mike Friesen , February 14, 2014 4:13 PM
    And maybe because the ps4 is faster by ~30%? Meaning it runs games at 1080p where xbone is at 720/900p? (Not all the time, but some of the time)Or how about that not everyone wants to rely on their internet for rendering frames/lighting in microsoft's big releases? Or that microsoft scared off a bunch of customers with DRM?
  • Display all 40 comments.
  • 10 Hide
    wafflestomper , February 14, 2014 4:19 PM
    Quote:
    And maybe because the ps4 is faster by ~30%? Meaning it runs games at 1080p where xbone is at 720/900p? (Not all the time, but some of the time)Or how about that not everyone wants to rely on their internet for rendering frames/lighting in microsoft's big releases? Or that microsoft scared off a bunch of customers with DRM?
    Yeah, plus it's $100 cheaper.
  • -2 Hide
    Stimpack , February 14, 2014 4:37 PM
    And it's made by a company that isn't a pile of major money-grabbing crap, and they know what they're doing instead of making garbage consumer-unfriendly decisions, mocking their customers base, and then flip-flopping. Their board doesn't even want the Xbox division, and they've been firing/hiring like crazy. Everything about the current state of the Xbox-side of Microsoft seems absolutely terrible. Plus they've been gouging people for years with Netflix behind a paywall and all kinds of garbage. Microsoft sends out 50 microsoft points, Sony sends out $10 credits. Microsoft admits defeat by trying to do their own PS+ IGC, but they put out bottom of the barrel garbage. From top to bottom, it amazed me how poorly things were handled.I'm not trying to sit here and say that Sony is perfect, or that they aren't after money like every other business in existence, but I am saying that they've a hell of a lot better in a lot of ways. The proof is in the numbers.
  • 13 Hide
    stevejnb , February 14, 2014 4:43 PM
    Stimpack... While there is no question that MS has made a debacle of the XBOX One's launch, based on your comments about what you think Sony is not, are you completely unfamiliar with Sony's history concerning relationship with the consumer? Whether it's rootkits or sacrificing goats in PR stunts or "if the consumer wants one, they can just work a little harder" or just outright charging significantly more for their products than the competition... Do you really believe the benevolent good guys here more than just a company that is astoundingly arrogant that is sucking up to a consumer that was jumping ship on them?
  • 1 Hide
    bradsctt , February 14, 2014 5:01 PM
    Im not a PC or Xbox fanboy, but remember, this is mainly because there was finally stock available for the PS4. Xbox ruled for at least two months due to the PS4 supply shortages
  • -2 Hide
    fleeb , February 14, 2014 5:12 PM
    I love Japanese tech. Let us support the Japanese economy and buy their products, which, are top notch.
  • -3 Hide
    Jgriff , February 14, 2014 5:20 PM
    Should be outselling it by more than double, for 100$ less you get a system that's 50% more powerful...fanboy or not, it doesn't make sense to get a xbone, atleast not to me lol. Plus most of its "exclusives" will be landing on pc anyway.
  • 4 Hide
    stevejnb , February 14, 2014 5:34 PM
    Quote:
    Should be outselling it by more than double, for 100$ less you get a system that's 50% more powerful...fanboy or not, it doesn't make sense to get a xbone, atleast not to me lol. Plus most of its "exclusives" will be landing on pc anyway.


    While your point is sound in theory, if it were anywhere near true, the weaker and more expensive and significantly less powerful PS2 would have been outsold by the original XBOX. Didn't happen, nor should it have. In a world where people running $2000 gaming rigs get excited about games like Braid and To The Moon, acting like system power is a deciding factor in anything but forum wars between fanboys is a bit unrealistic.

    That being said, this is more of an standoffish observation. The XB1 is unlikely to keep up with the PS4 this gen for sales, but everyone screaming bloody murder about the system's respective power being a deciding factor is pretty ignorant of console history, when the last two generations' top sellers were the weakest consoles of the three major ones available.
  • 1 Hide
    Jgriff , February 14, 2014 5:43 PM
    @steve

    the ps2 outsold the original xbox because it was out years before it and had far more games, plus it was cheaper....and when it comes to games, actual exclusive AAA games sonys track record is impressive, they're the only one of the big 3 who constanty put out fresh new ips. While Microsoft buys timed exclusives from 3rd parites...the only aaa games they really have had that was theirs in the last 6 years that didn't end up on another platform was halo, Forza, and gears.....
  • -1 Hide
    bison88 , February 14, 2014 6:28 PM
    It's $100 overpriced with a Kinect that many would rather not have over the discount and the hardware itself is inferior tot he PS4. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to do the math as this is the main reason the 360 outsold the PS3 for a long long time.The simple fact that the XBONE struggles just to get 720p content at 30 or 60FPS in 2014 is just mind blowing. We don't need all the fancy graphics that goes with game engines, but not being able to play at a High Def resolution that has been mainstream since 2009 is embarrassing. PS4 isn't much better, but in comparisons it's leaps ahead.
  • 0 Hide
    antilycus , February 14, 2014 7:33 PM
    meanwhile, real gamers have started to realize that leaving their PC behind for the TV / console fad was fun while it lasted but it's time to play games again they way they were meant, back on their PC. (you know exactly what the PS4 and XBONE are)
  • 0 Hide
    antilycus , February 14, 2014 7:42 PM
    ALso for also those non coders out there, XB1 is based on Microsofts unifiying architecture, which is reather naive of MS. The WIN XP > WIN 8.1 kernels are just too outdated these days. Memeory management on a WINDOWS kernel (and a Mac kernel too FYI) are simply just bad. Systems that need 16GB of RAM!? get real. Direct3D (the API of choice on XBOX) has run it's day. Today developers and customers want something that's not going to anchor them to a certain system. It's why Android is doing better than Apple. Apple's (and now MS's) mindset is "if you buy everything Apple, we've got you covered"...while customer demand is just the other way around. If Apple sold at prices of WINTEL box's and Android phones, you'd find out they aren't as great as their general perception is.Linux kernels (not from a fanboy perspective) just seem to make the most logical sense. Memory management, thread management, Open GL, Open CL, Open AL...you write the "core" code for 1 product and you have it across many (except the XBOX divison that doesn't support OpenGL calls via thei GPU's).It's interesting to see how this will all turn out...in the big picture these sales numbers are based on many factors of supply and demand.
  • 3 Hide
    beavermml , February 14, 2014 9:29 PM
    @antilycus.. that is your opinion as a programmer ( i assumed you are ) which are different to the normal folks.. if that is true, linux will be the dominant OS for normal folks already and not windows.. what normal people want is something that works out of box / something they already familiar to.. it doesnt matter to normal folks if PS4/xbone is better to code or not.. in the end.. programmers will code games on the most widely available console because there the money is.. not because the console is easier to code..
  • -1 Hide
    hajila , February 14, 2014 9:37 PM
    Data is skewed because they have 400% more global market exposure? That data is not skewed because MS can't get their logistics as tight as Sony. Head to head, we see where MS's elitist nonsense has landed them.
  • 6 Hide
    stevejnb , February 14, 2014 9:56 PM
    Quote:
    @steve

    the ps2 outsold the original xbox because it was out years before it and had far more games, plus it was cheaper....and when it comes to games, actual exclusive AAA games sonys track record is impressive, they're the only one of the big 3 who constanty put out fresh new ips. While Microsoft buys timed exclusives from 3rd parites...the only aaa games they really have had that was theirs in the last 6 years that didn't end up on another platform was halo, Forza, and gears.....


    Gaming history, Griff. Your post is littered with factual errors.

    First off, the PS2 launched - in North America - on October 26th in the year 2000 at $299. The original XBOX launched on November 14th 2001 - 13 months, not "years" - after it. The Original XBOX had a $100 price drop within 2 months, and beat the PS2 to the $150 price by almost a year. Within two months of its release, and for the rest of its life, it cost less and was more powerful and had significantly better online play. Did that win it the gen? Obviously not.

    Besides, if games and price and release date were the deciding factors, Sega's Dreamcast - which came out well before the PS2 - would have blown the PS2 out of the water. It was out before, it had loads of excellent games before the PS2 even came out, and it cost less. Go figure, it's the system of that gen almost no-one remembers.

    What do you take from this? If it's that games + release date + price = winner, then the Dreamcast should have stomped the PS2 - and it didn't. If it's that power + price advantage make a system a winner, then the original XBOX should have picked up tremendous steam VS the PS2, and it didn't.

    The moral of the story isn't that the XBOX One is going to win or any such thing. Rather, it's that such simple metrics as "DURRR - THE PS4 IS MORE POWERFUL AND COSTS LESS!" have proven misleading in almost every other previous generation. Even look at last generation where the Wii came out the gate as the most successful console ever released - only to taper to the slowest seller making the least money with the fewest good game releases by the end of the generation. Do you really think you can, with *any* claim to an accurate prediction at this point?

    I'm not buying any console for quite a while at least, and games will decide which one I get. The jumping the gun on predictions bugs me though because, if you actually look at each generation's history as far as console success goes, you'll quickly see that the criteria many people use are all but useless.

    And, on a side note, for reference... There is not one generation where the most powerful console has ended up being the top selling. Consider that when you're talking about console power as if that's what *really* decides what console is going to win in the long run.
  • 0 Hide
    Jgriff , February 14, 2014 11:31 PM
    @steve Dreamcast was missin one thing...doubling as a DVD player. Which was something big back then about the ps2. And not to mention the dream cast...out of the box didn't need to be hacked to play pirated games, it was as simple as making a copy and putting it in there, which caused software sales to heavily decline. If the dreamcast lasted as long as the ps2, and played DVDs it may have beat it in sales, power stone is still my favorite fighter of all time, and shenmue was ahead of its time.

    It's all about having the right things at the right time and not dropping support. Right price, right features, right games, The ps1 and the ps2 had that and that's why they won their gens. Although the wii may looked to have outdone the ps3...it's still selling! And it's still a blu ray player and doesn't have a paywall in front of its apps to access them like 360 and ps plus has plenty of free games to play, and there's still games coming out for the thing, there's still reasons to get it, give it another 2 or so years and the ps3 will also be the winner of last gen sales. I rest my case.
  • 0 Hide
    jimmysmitty , February 14, 2014 11:39 PM
    Quote:
    And it's made by a company that isn't a pile of major money-grabbing crap, and they know what they're doing instead of making garbage consumer-unfriendly decisions, mocking their customers base, and then flip-flopping. Their board doesn't even want the Xbox division, and they've been firing/hiring like crazy. Everything about the current state of the Xbox-side of Microsoft seems absolutely terrible. Plus they've been gouging people for years with Netflix behind a paywall and all kinds of garbage. Microsoft sends out 50 microsoft points, Sony sends out $10 credits. Microsoft admits defeat by trying to do their own PS+ IGC, but they put out bottom of the barrel garbage. From top to bottom, it amazed me how poorly things were handled.I'm not trying to sit here and say that Sony is perfect, or that they aren't after money like every other business in existence, but I am saying that they've a hell of a lot better in a lot of ways. The proof is in the numbers.


    If you really think Sony is any better than MS as a company, then you need to look at their history. Not only, as mentioned, was there the DRM debacle, which BTW was bad because it KILLED OS installs (as in wipe and reinstall only) but there was also their security breach of their user info which was not safely encrypted.

    Both companies only want one thing, your money. I see both as consoles but I do see the XB1 as a media hub rather than a console only. Did you know that during the last few years people had multiple 360s in their home and most of the time they were used for things such as Netflix and watching movies?

    Did you also know that XB Live was superior to Sony's online version for years because it had pay for which meant dedicated servers and superior support.

    MS has one upped Sony quite a few times and people laughed when Microsoft (who also helped develop one of the greatest consoles of all time, the Dreamcast) was going to put out a console yet the 360 outsold the PS3 by quite a bit.

    One thing I have learned about American companies like MS and Intel, never laugh at them. If they want to do something they will and they will do well as the XB1 is still doing well as 2.27 million sales in a month are nothing to laugh at.

    Quote:
    I love Japanese tech. Let us support the Japanese economy and buy their products, which, are top notch.


    Japanese tech is ok. I would actually say the South Koreans are better as Samsung, LG, Asus and a whole lot of other very popular electronic companies are from there and not Japan.

    Samsung makes way better TVs than Sony and nothing major for computers comes out from Japan. Well I guess Sony had a big part in Blu-Ray but how many people actually have that with the advent of HD streaming capabilities?

    Quote:
    Should be outselling it by more than double, for 100$ less you get a system that's 50% more powerful...fanboy or not, it doesn't make sense to get a xbone, atleast not to me lol. Plus most of its "exclusives" will be landing on pc anyway.


    Power does not always mean better. A great example was AMD GPUs. I remember when the HD5870 hit. It has 2x the GFLOPS of a HD4870 and well more than a GTX480. But the GTX480 was faster and the 5870 was not double the 4870 (FPS).

    More power does not always mean it will perform better. The 360 and PS3 had GPUs that were about equal, the 360s was a bit more advanced. But the PS3 did have a superior CPU in many ways yet if you looked at games, both systems were about on par.

    It is all in how that power is utilized and overall most game devs except exclusives will cater to the common lowest denominator. If the XB1 is that then the game will probably be the same on both systems, only PC might have a few more options if the dev so chooses.

    As well in order to get the exact same, well not same but similar yet less powerful, functionality in the PS4 (Kinect) you have to pay another $100 for their system which makes them cost the same.

    Microsoft is not some idiot company born yesterday. They have been around since the advent of the personal computer and they have witnessed the rise and fall of many ideas. The way they are positioning the XB1 and how it will probably work seamlessly with other Windows 8/8.1 based devices means it will be an interesting console war as I doubt the PS4 will work the same way. Microsoft is working towards a single user experience between devices which means if you have a Windows 8 PC, Windows 8 Phone/Tablet and a XB1 the experience will be the same and things like favorites, pics and such will be shared.

    Just keep in mind who and what MS is, they are not new to this.
  • -1 Hide
    Jgriff , February 14, 2014 11:55 PM
    @jimmy how can you say games will be similar on both consoles, when there are games now that run in native 1080p on ps4 while they run 720p on xbone, and some games have major fps differences like tomb raider, which is 30 on xbone and 60 on ps4.... .there's a 50% power difference between the 2. And that is a pretty big gap, you'll see it indefinite when sony starts cranking out more of its exclusives from the likes of naughty dog and Santa Monica.
  • 1 Hide
    azz156 , February 15, 2014 12:34 AM
    Quote:
    @steve the ps2 outsold the original xbox because it was out years before it and had far more games, plus it was cheaper....and when it comes to games, actual exclusive AAA games sonys track record is impressive, they're the only one of the big 3 who constanty put out fresh new ips. While Microsoft buys timed exclusives from 3rd parites...the only aaa games they really have had that was theirs in the last 6 years that didn't end up on another platform was halo, Forza, and gears.....
    Quote:
    It's $100 overpriced with a Kinect that many would rather not have over the discount and the hardware itself is inferior tot he PS4. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to do the math as this is the main reason the 360 outsold the PS3 for a long long time.The simple fact that the XBONE struggles just to get 720p content at 30 or 60FPS in 2014 is just mind blowing. We don't need all the fancy graphics that goes with game engines, but not being able to play at a High Def resolution that has been mainstream since 2009 is embarrassing. PS4 isn't much better, but in comparisons it's leaps ahead.
    Dunno where you got "Years" from. ps2 went on sale on october 26th 2000. xbox went on sale on 15 november 2001. around 13 months. but according to the logic sony idiot fanbois use, the xbox should have won that generation since it was literally 3x faster but for some reason it was the games that made the ps2 a better system not the power of the hardware.But as for being cheaper, wrong again. ps2 launch price in NA $299, xbox launch price $299 and its easily arguable that the xbox was more value for money since it came with a 20gb hdd and was 3x more powerful.as for the 1080 thing again, load of crap. all games properly coded for the xbox one run perfectly at 1080p, http://au.ign.com/wikis/xbox-one/PS4_vs._Xbox_One_Native_Resolutions_and_Framerates
  • 2 Hide
    ThisIsMe , February 15, 2014 12:53 AM
    It's getting old to see all of the news articles twisting this whole issue about price for these consoles and all these sheep agreeing with them. After all, you;re complaining about $499 vs, $399. You cannot compare these launch prices with the current prices of the last gen consoles. You have to compare them with the launch prices of the last gen consoles. Now, I know everyones memory must be really foggy so I'll refresh it for everyone here.US PS4 Launch Price - $599 (60GB)$499 (20GB)US XBox offerings at time of PS4 launch $399 (Pro)$299 (core)So after looking at those prices, I really don't understand why all the Sony/PS fanboys want to ride on MS about a $499 XBox. It seems to me they're just talking out of their rears as they do not have a leg to stand on. It's more than obvious they are just using this to try and make their system actually worth something more this time around.Anyway, please stop posting "news" about your obviously confused opinion on what is an acceptable price for a console launch, since they are both less expensive than what was "okay" over 7 years ago. So saying it is less attractive should be a moot point for PS4 buyers anyways.Also, getting tired of the junk about games that have always favored Sony's PS console running better on PS4 than on the XBox One. Besides, Tomb raider has always sucked as a game anyway and will never be important to more than a select group of nerds who actually think an animated game character is "hot."
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