After a handful of months losing out to the Xbox One in the NPD, the PlayStation 4 has restored normal order, by winning the all-important December report. To be honest, this shouldn't come as a massive surprise considering the ridiculous numbers that Sony posted over the holiday period, but there was a chance that Microsoft may have pipped the platform holder at the post in the US, with the former's worldwide dominance contributing to those outrageous numbers.
But no, the PS4 was on top for a second consecutive month, though it seems its sales did dip year-over-year. As has become common now, the manufacturer opted not to comment on the victory, presumably preferring to let its recent statement on the global situation do the talking. We'll get software charts and more data a little later in the month, and you'll find all of that information posted here as soon as we have access to it.
[source venturebeat.com]
Comments 14
Isn't this also with the Xbone being really very cheap at the moment in the US?
@Matroska PS4 is pretty cheap too!
To the surprise of no one... It was a good run Microsoft.
@Matroska they were both at around $250 for almost the whole holiday season. In the case of Xbox One, I'm pretty sure it held at thatprice point the whole season, if I'm not misremembering.
@get2sammyb Oh, you're right. I'm sure I'd read that MS were "aggressively discounting" the Xbone in the US.
There's a bit of a difference, though. I just checked on Amazon.com and you can get an Xbox S 500GB with Battlefield 1 for $266 but a regular PS4 500GB with no game is $260. Then again, it's hard to base much on online retailers since the prices seem to change very frequently.
I have to say Sony have played a blinder over the holidays. Many questioned why a Slim existed when Pro was coming but as we now know it allowed them to price the slim aggressively. I suspect they will try to do the same with the Pro to counter Scorpio.
I definitely believe it, but does the article show how this is known? I see links to the impressive holiday sales figures, but nothing showing they actually won December. Although again I dont doubt it.
Edit: see the Venturebeat link. Thanks.
Just over 3 years the PS4 has sold over 53 million. Its over halfway to 100million. Not bad for a gaming console which is facing fierce competition from millions of PC's and a billion mobile phones! Well done Sony. If Sony and all the third parties keep on bringing these amazing gaming experiences like past 3 years I'm gonna be one happy bunny 😍
With this year's hugely impressive software lineup and probably a price cut coming for the PS4 Pro (maybe the Slim as well) it'll be interesting to see if there's continued growth. 2017 has potential to be, game-wise, the best year yet for PS4, the only thing that could slow it down is Nintendo playing all its cards right with the Switch and I will say as a detractor in recent years, I think Nintendo does potentially have an original Wii like hit on its hands.
The real issue is that Microsoft isn't just losing at consoles. They are losing on the OS front because of tablets and iOS. They are losing on the office suite front (their cash cow) because people at home are starting to use the free options like google docs (and retail leads that industry because people push for their comfort zone at work eventually). They are definitely losing on the web front, despite .net being fantastic - just java is more universal and pushed by IBM. Bing, lol. windows phone... Seriously Microsoft needs a win in at least one of their markets.
@JoeBlogs
Stuff I've read suggests it's easy to develop for, but that aside, I think as long as Nintendo gets its messaging clear the system will be ok. And I keep going back to it, but the massive Pokemon fanbase can't be overlooked and now for the first time those people will have the option to play that series on their televisions. I think the Switch be a big hit, maybe not Wii-level success but I don't rule that possibility out either. We'll see. The next few years will be fun to watch.
@JoeBlogs
I'd guess it could be but I'm not a developer. I'm just going off what I've been reading. At the end of the day it's all $. If the Switch takes off and people are buying third party games, even if it's a headache, companies will make sure to get their games on the console. If third party games sell like they did on Wii U, development for Switch will stop regardless of whether or not it's easy to work with.
"Not a massive surprise" Hmm, well according to 'The internet' the New PS4 Slim wasn't going to sell well and 'The internet' said the Xbox ONE S was better...Oh dear, 'They' were WRONG(Again)
Judging by the linked article, it's a mixed bag of news. It's great that Sony won out top console sales for November-December NPDs, but no year-over-year growth when they released a Slim console, PSVR, and a Pro console is not good.
Meanwhile, XBO did gain year-over-year growth (clearly, since XBO wasnt doing well before mid-2016) thanks to 4 months of topping NPD sales.
I'm more interested in seeing how software like FFXV performed.
This says a lot about how important Backwards Compatibility 4K blue ray drive is..LOL
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