The official NPD numbers for September haven’t been released yet, but it looks like Sony had another whopping victory last month despite some important moves by Microsoft to try to put the Xbox One back on top. According to VGChartz, Sony sold 178,000 PlayStation 4s globally during the week of September 14th while Microsoft only moved 94,000 Xbox One consoles in that time.
If you’ve been paying attention to the trends, this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but it’s even more disheartening for Microsoft when you begin to consider what the company has been doing to put the Xbox One in a position to succeed.
It began with the Japan launch, which has typically been a disappointment for Microsoft. This year was no different — Microsoft sold over 1 million consoles when the Xbox One launched in the U.S., but only 23,562 Japanese customers picked one up during the first week of sales. By the third week, only 1,314 Xbox One consoles were sold in Japan.
Microsoft refuses to give up on Japan, but it’s clear that the Xbox brand still hasn’t caught on in the East. On the other hand, Microsoft has traditionally had success in Europe, but in order to provide a little extra incentive, the company dropped the price of the Xbox One to £329.99 in the UK (while the price of the PS4 held steady at £349.99) ahead of the launch of FIFA 15.
MCV reports that the price cut was enough to push Xbox One sales past the PS4 in the UK with a 155% week-over-week sales eruption, but sources claim that the PS4 version of FIFA 15 actually outsold the Xbox One version.
Even as the price drops and availability continues to spread worldwide, Microsoft still hasn’t found a way to catch up with Sony. This holiday season is going to be hugely important for both companies, but it’s shaping up to be an uphill climb for one of them.
