Adobe has released the sales figures accumulated in the recently concluded Black Friday sale and it is good news for Xbox One. The console trounced PlayStation 4 in terms of sales, possibly cementing its edge over its rival.
Black Friday Bestsellers
Adobe's market-tracking data placed the Xbox One as the fifth bestselling product in the duration of Black Friday sale, trailing the iPad, Samsung's 4K televisions, MacBook and LG's televisions, respectively. PlayStation 4 was not mentioned in the report, which means its performance could be too far behind.
In a press statement, Adobe stated that there is a tremendous volume of data based on the 22.6 billion documented visits to retail websites. The company is said to have recorded at least 80 percent of the Black Friday online transactions.
"Shoppers hit the buy button at unprecedented levels as conversion rates were up nearly a full percent across all devices in the evening hours on Black Friday," Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst and director at Adobe Digital Insights, declared. "With the full day total coming in at $3.34 billion, Black Friday may have just dethroned Cyber Monday's position as the largest online shopping day of the year."
Xbox One Ascendancy
Naturally, Microsoft has promptly seized on the report to trumpet its emergence as the console to beat in the market.
"There was strong demand for Xbox hardware, accessories, games and Xbox Live engagement on Black Friday, based on initial results, with a strong start to the holiday season," Mike Nichols, corporate vice president of Xbox marketing at Microsoft, said.
Some observers believe that Xbox's strong performance last week has been partly due to the release of the Xbox One S. This is touted as the latest and only console to have a built-in UHD 4K Blu-ray with 4K video streaming and HDR support.
Here, it is important to note that the pricing for the Xbox One S is similar to the PlayStation Slim. Both were sold for $250, except for the additional 15 percent that Target slashed for the Battlefield 1 and Minecraft Xbox bundles. Sony's offering includes the new 500 GB PlayStation Slim, a DualShock 4, and Naughty Dog's hit game Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.
PlayStation: Not So Fast
Microsoft's claim to victory, however, could be short-lived. Adobe's data covering Nov. 1 to Nov. 24 showed that the PlayStation 4 is now outselling the Xbox One, perhaps due to the release of the PlayStation Pro. If this trend continues until the end of November with Xbox One failing to catch up, the Microsoft console would finally see an end to its four-month winning streak, which culminated in October.
