We’re currently well into the opening lap of the renewed console battle between Sony and Microsoft, and with the latter having stepped out and claimed a haul of 3 million Xbox One units pushed before the turn of the new year, its Japanese adversary has well and truly trumped it with the revelation that 4.2 million units were sold as of December 28th.
Yes, the PlayStation 4 did release a week earlier in the United States, which is the biggest consumer of video games in the world. But it’s worth noting that Sony’s count-up stopped a couple of days before Microsoft’s, and whichever way you care to assess the situation, the PlayStation 4 is definitely edging proceedings in these vital early stages.
The fact that the PlayStation 4 is both cheaper and more powerful than the Xbox One will surely only help Sony to continue in the same manner, and although the Redmond outfit’s entertainment system does have the benefit of the second-gen Kinect sensor, one suspects that there’ll need to be a price drop before consumers will begin to bit.
Despite the myriad of factors potentially affecting current sales trends, only time will tell which of these two titans will eventually reign supreme. After all, it tends only to be the truly hardcore fans who go out in the opening months to make their purchases – most eventual owners of either console will be perched upon the proverbial fence waiting for that particular game to release or that price-drop to occur.
Microsoft was always taking a gamble by including the Kinect sensor as a mandatory peripheral, at the expense of cost. Although it was immensely popular when it first appeared back in 2010, many Xbox 360 users remained apathetic towards it — especially, you feel, those ardent gaming fans.
Thus, it should perhaps be expected that the PlayStation 4 has taken this early lead. But with exec. Andrew House joining Kaz Hirai on stage at CES 2014 to announce the 4.2 million units sold as of 28th December last year, both of these influential company figures will be quietly confident that the PS4 can overturn the deficit suffered in the previous generation console war.
What do you think – is the early lead something of a formality? Or is Sony on its way back to the top? Do share your thoughts below!
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