Xbox is one of Microsoft’s major products, and the lynchpin of Microsoft’s gaming enterprise. Launched in 2001, the console has been in the market for nearly 15 years and is still going strong.
According to estimates by VGChartz, PS4 – the market leader – sold 14.97 million units in the U.S., the Xbox One 13.40 million units, and the Wii U 5.58 million units. This is lifetime sales for each of these gaming console versions in the United States.
Although the gap between the first two positions doesn’t seem like much, that’s only in the United States. Worldwide, the Xbox One lags behind the PS4 by a wide margin.
“Taking a look at the marketshare, the PlayStation 4 tops the other two platforms combined (lifetime sales). The PlayStation 4 has 55 percent market share, the Xbox One sits at 29 percent, and the Wii U 16 percent.
- PlayStation 4 Total Sales: 45,789,855
- Xbox One Total Sales: 23,821,101
- Wii U Total Sales: 13,510,130”
Though the PS4 is way ahead of the Xbox One, Microsoft is catching up with the leader in the United States market which, along with the UK, is arguably one of the most lucrative ones for any company.
Gaming is a multi-billion-dollar business unit for Microsoft, with the company reporting $1.9 billion in gaming revenues during Q1-2017, but these revenues declined by 4% on a constant-currency basis during the quarter due to lower console revenues in Q1-17 compared to prior period.
“We continue to see strong engagement on our platform with monthly active Xbox live users up 21%. Our software and services revenue from console, PC in other gaming devices grew 6% or 8% in constant currency, said Nadella during the first quarter earnings call. And in gaming we expect strong share performance in key markets like the US and the UK this holiday, but overall revenue will decline given lower price points and lower overall console units as mix shift towards Xbox One and Xbox One S. We expect continued active engagement growth on our gaming platform given the holiday season.”
Though the Xbox live user base is seeing strong growth in the last few quarters, Microsoft will have to keep the consoles moving if it wants to hold on to its market for the long term. But in those two key markets mentioned, the Xbox One seems to be catching up to the market leader, the PS4. And now, the Xbox One S, which was released in August, seems to be showing a lot of promise as well.
Watch the video review of Xbox One S below.
Both Xbox One and its upgraded sibling seem to be doing exceedingly well.
“Microsoft’s corporate VP of Xbox marketing Mike Nichols cited the industry-tracking NPD Group with the news that the Xbox One was the best-selling console in the US for August, making it two straight months atop the chart.” – Gamesindustry
“Xbox has stormed the UK console market following the launch of new Xbox One S models.
The release of the firm’s new slim 500GB and 1TB SKUs saw Xbox One sales rise 989 per cent week-on-week.
The Xbox One had a 71 per cent share of the hardware market for the week ending September 24th, according to GfK data obtained by MCV. That’s an increase of 76 per cent year-on-year.” – mcvuk.com
That’s great news for Microsoft, but investors will have to wait for at least the next two quarters’ sales numbers to see if the Xbox One family has, in fact, caught up with Sony’s PS4.
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