Sony enthusiastically declared victory on Thursday, announcing that its PlayStation 4 had outsold Microsoft's Xbox One nearly two-to-one in January 2014. According to the NPD's data, The PS4 is the king of the consoles.
In recent years, Sony has quietly avoided the who-sold-more game, mainly because it kept losing to Microsoft. However, now that Sony's PS4 has come out on top, the company is cheerfully broadcasting its victory.
"The response has been fantastic. In the U.S., PS4 was #1 in sales for next-gen consoles in January, nearly doubling the nearest next-gen competitor. And PS4 remains the cumulative leader here based on today's report from the NPD Group," Sony's John Koller wrote in a company blog post.
The PlayStation 4 also leads in the worldwide sales count and its numbers will only continue to rise after it is launched in Japan on Feb. 22. Sony is expected to lead Microsoft for a lot of 2014, but the Xbox One could still catch up. These numbers are early yet and both companies have been selling consoles at a record-breaking pace. Microsoft sure hasn't given up yet either.
After the numbers were announced, Microsoft informed the world that although the Xbox One lost this battle, it can still win the war and it means to do so. The Xbox One is selling at a rate of 2.29 times faster than the previous model, the Xbox 360 did when it was released.
The Xbox One was number two in console sales, but its game sales figures were number one. When you add in PS 3 game sales and Xbox 360 game sales, Microsoft's software wins. Microsoft sold 2.27 million units and the company claims that its Xbox game sales accounted for 47 percent of all game software sales. Bestsellers for the month of January included "Call of Duty: Ghosts," "NBA 2K14," "Battlefield 4," "Assassin's Creed 4" and "Grand Theft Auto 5." Although software sales will earn Microsoft a lot of money, they won't earn the Xbox One the prestigious title of best console.
In order to earn that title, Microsoft will have to ratchet up the marketing for its Xbox One console and convince buyers that the extra price you pay for Kinect and other cool features that are unique to Microsoft are worth it. Undoubtedly, exclusive game releases like "Titanfall," which arrives in March, will help Microsoft increase Xbox One sales in the coming months.
However, if Microsoft fails to deliver, Sony's PlayStation 4 will continue to dominate and Microsoft may have to resort to the most embarrassing marketing technique of all: the dreaded discount.
