Heading into this generation, Sony appeared to have a ton of momentum. Many analysts and industry insiders agreed that the PlayStation 4 could win all major territories outside of North America.
The latter region would be much more difficult, simply because Microsoft’s Xbox 360 dominated throughout the previous generation. Could Sony really reclaim the US? Well, it appears so.
According to the latest NPD results, the PS4 was the “#1 selling game console in the US in January” and yes, it remains #1 worldwide as well. Over at the PlayStation Blog, Sony marketing executive John Koller elaborated on that statement, saying the PS4 nearly doubled the sales of the “nearest next-gen competitor” (clearly, the Xbox One).
Sony’s new system even managed to outpace the former leader, the Nintendo 3DS. However, it’s worth noting that Microsoft revealed that the Xbox 360 and Xbox One combined to “sell the most games across all console platforms.” Well, that’s something.
Still, the PS4 is obviously rolling. At last count, the PS4 had sold 4.2 million worldwide while the Xbox One had tallied 3 million. Now, it appears the gap has widened.
The US market is absolutely critical
It was stunning to see the Xbox 360 storm the North American market after the PS2 reigned supreme for so long. I honestly never thought the PS4 could re-acquire command of the region so quickly. Of course, we’re only looking at one month’s worth of sales but hey, it’s an awfully good start.
