With the release of the Xbox One and the Playstation 4 last month we knew that the holidays would be all about console wars. It’s been 8 and seven years respectively since new systems were released from Microsoft and Sony. Major upgrades in technology and a focal point on the living room are key factors that are working, and turning these new consoles into more than just gaming machines.
Now before we go any further we know that the Playstation 4 fans will say that I’m a fan girl, but just know we have both systems in our house and have been evaluating both and I actually like PS4 better. There I said it.
Having said that though, many online news sources are reporting that Xbox One won on Black Friday. Venturebeat cited a survey from Infoscout which reports on consumer retail trends and data. According to the survey Xbox One came in with a commanding 31% share of the market, despite the fact that Xbox One costs $100 more.
Now when it comes right down to it, Microsoft has done a little better with supply chain as we head into the home stretch of the Christmas shopping season. You can also weigh in the difference of price when the systems were first released which could be an indicator that Microsoft had more systems on hand as we rolled into the biggest shopping day of the year.
What it does suggest is that Microsoft was better prepared for the Black Friday rush. It’s also notable that Microsoft released the Xbox, quasi world-wide on November 22nd whereas Sony’s European release of the PS4 was the same weekend. This probably meant that Sony sent extra supply to European countries for the launch, that they could have used in the US for Black Friday.
That’s the lay of the land for next-gen consoles.
But one thing that’s pretty significant was that it wasn’t the Playstation 4 that came in second place Black Friday, it was actually the Xbox 360, Microsoft’s previous generation system.
Sony’s Playstation 4 actually tied with Sony’s previous generation system the Playstation 3.
Deep discounts, and big bundle sales drove Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 this holiday season. Big Box retailers had both systems under $200 and some had the systems packaged with extra controllers and multiple games. Sony reassured customers who picked up a Playstation 3, by saying that they will support the PS3 for many years to come.
