It's been a crazy three weeks with three separate console releases and two massive shopping days, and the figures are starting to trickle in, painting a picture of which next-gen console is more successful and popular.
First, as the PlayStation 4 recently emerged in Europe and the U.K., Sony has provided some sales figures, so we'll look at that first.
Sony has revealed the total sales figures as of December 1, which come in at 2.1 million consoles sold worldwide since the console first launched in North America on November 15, over a million of which came from the first 24 hours.
Sony Computer Entertainment President and Group CEO Andrew House announced the figure with a post on the European PS Blog, writing, "with PS4′s global launch expanding to a total of 32 countries worldwide, including Europe and Latin America, I'm proud to announce that more than 2.1 million PS4s have been sold."
"It's an impressive and record-setting accomplishment for our company and for our industry, and we couldn't have done it without you. I want to personally thank PlayStation fans, both old and new, for your vote of confidence. The best part: the PS4 journey has just begun. In addition to an incredible line-up of PS4 games from the best developers in the world, we will continue to introduce valuable new features and services to PS4 in the months and years ahead."
Another 700,000 sales came from Europe and Australasia within the first two days of availability in that region, and more than 250,000 sold in the U.K. in the first 48 hours, making £87 million. That would make the PS4 the fastest selling console in the U.K. according to MCV, outperforming the PSP record set back in 2006.
House continued, saying that the "PS4 delivered the best launch in PlayStation history," while claiming that "demand remains incredibly strong and continues to overwhelm the supply worldwide."
The console is still having relative success here in the States as well, with sale numbers inflating thanks to Black Friday. According to DualShockers, GameStop's Black Friday PS4 console bundle outsold the retailer's Xbox One Black Friday bundle. The site reports: "the PS4 bundle was considerably more successful than the rival, ranking 2nd in the Best Selling chart (beaten only by the Xbox 360 version of Just Dance 2014), as opposed to the 7th place of the Xbox One."
The PS4 bundle offered the console, two games - Killzone: Shadow Fall and Knack, a second DualShock 4 and a year of PlayStation Plus for $609.95. The Xbox One bundle was similar, including the console and two games as well - Dead Rising 3 and Ryse: Son of Rome, a second controller, and a $20 Xbox One goift card for $699.96. The nearly $100 price discrepancy between the two bundles was definitely a factor.
The PS3 bundle also bested the Xbox 360 bundle.
Looking at other retailers, Microsoft outperformed Sony at both Target and Walmart on Black Friday. InfoScout reports that Microsoft's Xbox One and 360 accounted for 61 percent of all console purchases at the two retailers, with 31 earned by the Xbox One alone. Comparatively, the PS3 and PS4 scored at 15 percent, with the Wii U and Wii trailing at 6 and 1 percent respectively.
Microsoft has yet to reveal any official numbers since announcing the Xbox One's day one sales of over a million, but with Cyber Monday having just happened, and most of us still yet to finish our Christmas shopping, expect the number of sales for both console to keep climbing.
Under the hood, the PlayStation 4 boasts Supercharged PC architecture, X86 CPU, Enhanced PC GPU, and 8GB Unified Memory according to the official specs.
It supports the same PlayStation Plus service as the Vita and PlayStation 3. However, a Plus subscription is required for online multiplayer games, but not for additional media services like Netflix. Sony has also updated the Dual Shock controllers with a touch screen and improved shoulder triggers, and bundles the console with a headset.
Available titles for the system include Killzone: Shadow Fall, Knack, Resogun, and more. You can check out a complete list of launch titles' prices and install sizes here. It currently retails for $399.
In the opposite corner, Microsoft's Xbox One claims an 8-core x86 processor and Microsoft hopes it will take the place of the family room cable box by letting you watch Blu-ray movies and TV through the console, in a "seamless transition" that lets players switch from playing games to watching shows and/or movies. It will come fully loaded with 8GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive.
The console's exclusives include Dead Rising 3, Killer Instinct, Ryse: Son of Rome, and more. You can check out a list of the install sizes for all of the launch games here. The Xbox One retails for $499.
Be sure to keep checking back with Gamenguide for more of the latest updates.
