Official Xbox One sales have largely remained a mystery, but now Microsoft is finally admitting it outright: PS4 has outsold Xbox One — by a lot.
Microsoft stopped reporting its Xbox One sales figures at the start of its 2016 fiscal year, focusing instead on Xbox Live numbers. This change means we don’t officially know how well the Xbox One compares to the PS4 after the Xbox One’s troubled launch. Microsoft ranks third behind Sony and Nintendo in analyst estimates, now documents (Word document) submitted to Brazil’s national competition regulator (found Game Gandhi) finally shed some light on how the Xbox One generation fared.
“Sony has surpassed Microsoft in terms of console sales and installed base, selling twice as much as Xbox over the last generation,” Microsoft said, translated from Portuguese.
Sony no longer reports PS4 shipments, meaning lifetime sales as of March are 117.2 million. While Microsoft hasn’t provided a firm sales number for the Xbox One, its inclusion means the company must have sold roughly 58.5 million units. It combines with market research Ampere analysis In 2020, the Xbox One’s install base stood at 51 million units at the end of Q2 2020. The Nintendo Switch currently sits at 111.08 million lifetime sales and looks set to pass the PS4 later this year.
Microsoft seems to be closing this giant gap with its Xbox Series S/X consoles. Ampere analysis “Sony targets PS5 total sales of 17 million units in 2021, 1.6 times the performance of Xbox series sales.” When Microsoft reposted for a quarter Hardware revenue declines for Xbox Recently, CEO Satya Nadella said that Microsoft “has been the market leader in next-gen consoles in North America for three quarters of a year in a row.” Microsoft has yet to release official Xbox sales figures.
The Xbox One may not have sold well, but Microsoft’s work on the Xbox One generation laid some important groundwork for the Xbox Series S/X. 1440p support for Microsoft Xbox Series X, variable refresh rate (VRR) and 120Hz games have all been launched with testing of these features on many previous Xbox One consoles.
Microsoft’s acknowledgment of weak Xbox One sales comes as part of a broader dispute between Sony and Microsoft over the Xbox maker. Activision acquired Blizzard for $68.7 billion. Both Sony and Microsoft argue Call of duty, game subscriptions and more Microsoft is trying to acquire in Brazil. Microsoft also made the claim in documents submitted to Brazil’s regulator Sony pays for “blocking rights”. To prevent developers from adding their content to Xbox Game Pass.
