The market research group NPD have released their US sales report for March, and it makes for uncomfortable reading for Microsoft.
Sony topped the hardware sales for the third consecutive month which allowed them to boast that 7 million PlayStation 4 consoles have been sold to consumers worldwide. Meanwhile Microsoft announced that they sold 311,000 Xbox One units in March and “5 million Xbox One consoles have been sold-in to retailers since our launch”
It is worth noting the “sold-in to retailers” is not the same as sold. 7 million consumers have handed over their hard earned money in exchange for a PlayStation 4 console, whereas Microsoft has sold 5 million Xbox One units to stores - not consumers.
The last official sales figure from Microsoft had 3.9 million consoles sold worldwide as of the beginning of January this year. January sales figures are unknown, but thought to be roughly half of the PlayStation 4 - which are also unknown. February(258,000 units) and March(311,000 units) account for another 569,000 Xbox One units, leaving a potential 561,000 (minus unknown January sales) sitting on store shelves unsold.
Despite this, Microsoft is remaining upbeat. In a statement posted on Xbox Wire, Xbox Corporate Vice President of Marketing, Strategy and Business, Yusuf Mehdi, said that: “Of course, we’re just getting started with this generation and the months ahead will bring several announcements we think you’ll love.
The team will continue to deliver regular improvements and new features based on your feedback through frequent system updates. Many more games are on the way with titles like “Sunset Overdrive” and “Project Spark,” many new games coming to Xbox One through the ID@Xbox program, and many more entertainment experiences. We can’t wait to share more games with you in June at E3.”
Sony may be the leading platform to date, but of course it is far too early to declare victory for either platform; both consoles are performing admirably against their previous generation counterparts. Worldwide sales, while impressive, are not a fair comparison - Sony is offering their console in 48 markets, compared to Microsoft’s 13. On a purely financial basis Microsoft may have grossed more than Sony based on the higher retail value of their console.
Stewart Loosemore
@Stigweird85
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