It was just last week that the NPD report was out for console sales for the month of January, declaring the PlayStation 4 as victorious over the Xbox One, with the report claiming that total sales for Sony's platform outnumbered that of Microsoft's nearly two to one. Now, VGChartz.com is claiming more recent numbers that put the total number of PlayStation 4 units sold as of February 8 as over 5 million.
Let's do some math for a second. If you recall back to early January, the official numbers from Sony were that the PS4 had managed to sell over 4.2 million by the end of 2013. Providing VGChartz's figures are accurate, if were at over 5 mill now, that means another million were sold through January and into early February, meaning that demand is still enormously high for the evidently short-stocked console.
Sony's managing to match the number of PS4 consoles sold during its first 24 hours of availability -- when demand was absurdly high -- is a truly impressive accomplishment.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is still playing at damage control from the recent NPD reports, breaking it down into specific regions. Australian tech site Smarthouse recently discussed Sony's success down under according to the NPD figures, writing that "PlayStation 4 was best selling console in Australia for 2013, ahead of arch rival Xbox One," and that thanks to the new consoles' availability, "the value of the Aussie console market jumped one third, or 27% last year."
But Microsoft seems content to dwell in December, when a NPD report released early that month called the Xbox One Australia's top selling consoles.
Despite the new numbers, the company is saying financial spending on its console than the PS4. Microsoft Australia's Jeremy Hinton says that the Xbox One "saw higher unit sales of consoles, games and accessories than any other next generation console in Australia last year and topped all prior console launches in the country's history," reported ChannelNews.
"Supply of the Xbox One has been limited since Christmas, however we are doing our best to meet demand, especially for Australians looking to join the action with the launch of Titanfall on March 13." Hinton also cited future releases like Kinect Sports Rival and Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare as games that could all potentially boost the console's sales numbers.
"Added to this is the Xbox One's continuous innovation with a commitment to listening to community feedback and delivering new features through system updates faster than ever before," said Hinton.
Under the hood, 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.
In the opposite corner, 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.
