PS4 vs. Xbox One: A Breakdown Of Success By The Numbers

There are two types of console gamers: those who play on Xbox One and those who are team PlayStation 4. Those on both sides of the debate can rattle off reasons why their console of choice is better, but at the end of the day, each console's success comes down to the numbers.

It's hard to believe that its been almost two years since Sony launched the PS4 and Microsoft the Xbox One. Released one week apart, the PS4 saw instant success, leaving the next-generation XBox green with envy. But fast forward to the present, and you may notice that the Xbox has more buzzed-about exclusives—like 2013's Dead Rising 3 and the recent timed exclusive Rise of the Tomb Raider—and now retails for a cheaper price. This sounds like the recipe for success, especially when thinking about the potential sales this holiday season.

In honor of the two-year anniversaries of both consoles, let's put the PS4 vs. Xbox One to review to see how they stack up.

Lifetime Units Sold In The U.S.

The clear winner of the console war continues to be the PS4. According to VGChartz, the console has sold more than 9.4 million units from its release in the U.S. on Nov. 16, 2013. Xbox One, in comparison, has sold more than 8.5 million units since its Nov. 22, 2013, release.

When the PS4 was first released, it made a little more than 1.2 million sales, with the XBox just below the million mark. While Sony's console outsold Microsoft's in every month in the U.S. since it was first released, 2014 tells a slightly different story. The Xbox One had its moment to shine, outselling its rival in November and December last year. The video game console also outsold the PS4 by 19,662 in October of this year.

This could be credited to the release of Halo 5: Guardians, which was the number one selling game, according to NPD.

Overall, Xbox One sales have increased in the fall of 2015 compared with the same period last year. While the PS4 is significantly outselling its rival, the XBox One has sold about double the units of Nintendo's Wii U, which has a lifetime of 4.45 million units sold in the U.S.

Still, the PS4's stats tell a different story. Sony reported that a remarkable 3 million consoles were sold in just the three-month quarter that ended on June 30, up from 2.7 million sold during the same quarter in 2014. That brought the total sales of the console to 25.3 million. Meanwhile, it took the PlayStation 2 almost three years to reach its 20 million in sales mark. The PS4 has been able to crush this record in less than 2 years.

Forbes reported that PlayStation brought in $160 million out of the company's $2.37 billion in sales. Meanwhile, Microsoft had sales about half of Sony's PS4 sales, with a total of 1.4 million Xbox One and XBox 360 sales combined during this same period.

Here's a breakdown of the exact numbers:

(Sales figures as of November 2015)

Lifetime Units Sold Worldwide

While these are large numbers, you have to keep in mind that this is just sales in the U.S. The global scale takes these numbers to new heights. But not surprisingly, the PlayStation continues to dominate.

The PS4 sold about 2 million units worldwide in November 2013, shooting up to over 18 million units by December 2014. The Xbox One debuted with just shy of 2 million units worldwide, only reaching 11 million by December the following year. The rest is history. Well, that brings us to the present.

The PS4 surpassed its 27 million mark of units sold worldwide in October of this year. Meanwhile, the Xbox One only passed its 15 million mark in the same month.

Here's a breakdown of the exact numbers:

(Sales figures as of November 2015)

Source: VG Chartz