Microsoft has cause for excitement. Just as EB Games predicted, it seems as though the Xbox One is top dog down under. According to market research firm NPD Group, the next-gen console is officially the fastest-selling game system in the country's history.
According to the firm, close to 66,000 consoles were sold in the first three days of the worldwide launch, which is more than double the sales of the previous console record, Nintendo's Wii in 2006.
Sony hadn't released official numbers of sales of its own next-gen console, the PlayStation 4, for the region, but industry sources apparently told the Australian Financial Review that "Sony's device fell short of Microsoft's across the same period a week earlier, primarily due to the company being unable to ship enough consoles to meet the number of pre-orders at bricks-and-mortar retailers."
Provided Sony can bring in more consoles, a rise in sales numbers is expeceted. As Michael Ephraim, the managing director of Sony Computer Entertainment Australia said, "It's been overwhelming...I've been around since PlayStation One and we still haven't seen the kind of demand we're seeing now for PS4."
"The first weekend sales figures is just the beginning because we haven't fulfilled all the pre-orders yet. We haven't been able to completely fulfill the demand as yet but we will. Hopefully consumers can buy one."
However, more PS4 shortages are expected in Australia, which will obviously keep numbers low.
While we're still waiting on Sony's official numbers from down under, the company did report last week that it had managed to sell a total of 2.1 million units, 700,000 of which came from Europe and Australian sales. The PS4 did manage to sell 250,000 in the U.K. in the first 48 hours, making it the fastest selling console in the U.K. according to MCV, outperforming the PSP record set back in 2006.
Still no word on total sales from Microsoft since launch, so it's hard to see a clear picture comparing the two consoles as far as sales go. But if the oft-quoted Michael Pachter is to be believed, Microsoft has an up-hill battle ahead.
Pachter predicted that in terms of worldwide sales, Sony is ahead of Microsoft by more than a half-million. According to Wedbush's 2013 NPD Preview report, the company "expects hardware sales of 1.25 million PS4 units and 750,000 Xbox One units in their debut month."
We'll keep you on more numbers as they come in.