November 2013 – December 2014: Flying Out The Traps
Months Won by PS4 Nov 2013 – Dec 2014: 11
PS4 Total Sales: 18 million
In November 2013, Sony and Microsoft were ready to commence the first battle of the next generation console war. The lines had been drawn in the sand, but it was quickly evident which side commanded popular opinion, and it was no surprise why either.
Six months earlier, Microsoft’s unveiling of its Xbox One console had been a bit of a blunderous affair. Confused messaging over Kinect’s function and online connectivity, second-hand games ownership, and the console’s high price point had not sat well with gamers. Taking advantage of those strategic errors, Sony was quick to declare its PS4 as a more dedicated gaming machine with a less corporate imperative; a notion that it would later cunningly build its “For the players” marketing campaign around.
Sony drew first blood, outselling Xbox One in both consoles’ debut month and would go on to dominate 2014, winning all but two months in a 14-month period across the US.
One notable exception was in December 2013. The loss was explained by a Sony spokesperson as due to a lack of retail stock. Not that Microsoft cared, who proudly boasted 908,000 units sold. Sony would later retort by reminding gamers that it had sold a whopping 4.2 million PS4s by the end of 2013.
It seemed that stock might well have been to blame for Sony’s loss of December, as the company went on to dominate the next 10 months in a row in the US. It was only in November 2014, after Microsoft finally dropped its stratospheric $500 price and ran a special sale, was Sony’s winning streak halted. The Xbox One would also hold on to finish in first place for December, too.
Still, regardless of the Xbox One’s strong finish to the year, the opening 14 months had seen Sony open up a substantial lead. Sony had “won” 11 of these months in the US, according to NPD. In the UK, a typically strong market for the Xbox brand, PS4 also outshone its rival as the best selling console in 2014.
