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PlayStation 4 Sales Surpass 7.0 Million Units (April 6th), 20.5M Software (April 13)

Considering Sony's info dump and emphasis on global sales I'm guessing this could be it. They are trying to get ahead of what is going to be a major headline grabber for MS. I'm sure Gies has his Twitter post already saved in a OneDrive doc.

Sony's monthly million sales update have always talked global sales only. This time has not been any different.

Sony comments on their regional sales performance as-and-when applicable... like when NPD swings by. We'll see another Sony PR, be it good, bad or spinmaster specifically to US tomorrow.
 
But what is this huge number of sold XBOs?
500k? 1mln? That's better than last months, but to me it doesn't seem like something Sony should be afraid of(they'll be ahead of sales by a couple of millilons anyway).
Or is people expecting more than a million? Sounds a bit crazy to me.
It is crazy; the 360, in it's Best Month Ever, never got over 650k. Ever. And 360 dominated NA.

t1397764800z1.png

That's actually a couple hours earlier than usual. Oh well, more time for the meltdowns.

Time to NPD PR:

t1397773800z1.png


Leaks will come later.
Or maybe it'll be at its usual time after all?
 

big_z

Member
Considering Sony's info dump and emphasis on global sales I'm guessing this could be it. They are trying to get ahead of what is going to be a major headline grabber for MS. I'm sure Gies has his Twitter post already saved in a OneDrive doc.

I think gies mentioned on rebelfm recently that he heard sales for Xbox are going to be sizeable.... At least in pretty sure it was him. It could have been another podcast.
 

DieH@rd

Banned
Sony's monthly million sales update have always talked global sales only. This time has not been any different.

Sony comments on their regional sales performance as-and-when applicable... like when NPD swings by. We'll see another Sony PR, be it good, bad or spinmaster specifically to US tomorrow.

MS will adopt Iwata's "one game can change everything" stance. :D
 
It is crazy; the 360, in it's Best Month Ever, never got over 650k. Ever. And 360 dominated NA.



That's actually a couple hours earlier than usual. Oh well, more time for the meltdowns.

NPD releases at 4:00 PM.

But PR leaks don't release until 6:30 PM. So no, it's not coming a couple hours earlier than usual. It's coming at this time:

t1397773800z1.png


...with leaks later.
 

Lemondish

Member
A 160k gap means they would have to sell 160k above what the PS4 sold this month alone (duh). That seems pretty impossible.

We know the PS4 sold a million units in the same time worldwide. We know Japan moved 100k in that time. If we assume 100k for the rest of the world and a straight split down the middle for North America and Europe (400k each), then PS4 could be at 400k for March.

That would mean the Xbox One would have had to sell 560k in North America alone. If it were to catch up lifetime to date, it would need to move 740k units.

We know what the demand looks like. We know what PS4 selling out looks like. We know what happens to certain metrics like Amazon's best sellers list when the PS4 sells well. We even get (potentially anecdotal) reports from those who work in retail as to their experiences. Those same channels, however unreliable they may be, have still shown us what it looks like when a console sells extremely well.

None of those things have happened this month for the Xbox One. Not to the tune of a 117% sales increase. My conclusion: PS4 outsold Xbox One this month by a margin similar to February (barely 10%).
 

Chamber

love on your sleeve
We've reached the inevitable point in this discussion where people start talking about what Arthur Gies is saying on twitter. Time to bail out.

My guess is that any controversy would be over One LTD overtaking PS4 (US) because of Titanfall bundles and whatnot. I think it's a possibility.

That doesn't seem possible at all. XB1 would have needed to sell ~650k for that to happen assuming 300k sales for PS4 in March.
 
NPD releases at 4:00 PM.

But PR leaks don't release until 6:30 PM. So no, it's not coming a couple hours earlier than usual. It's coming at this time:

t1397773800z1.png


...with leaks later.
Cool then, thanks. But is there a specific reason why it takes a few hours for the info to get around? How do they release the NPD?

Apologies in advance for the question dump :S
 
A 160k gap means they would have to sell 160k above what the PS4 sold this month alone (duh). That seems pretty impossible.

We know the PS4 sold a million units in the same time worldwide. We know Japan moved 100k in that time. If we assume 100k for the rest of the world and a straight split down the middle for North America and Europe (400k each), then PS4 could be at 400k for March.

That would mean the Xbox One would have had to sell 560k in North America alone. If it were to catch up lifetime to date, it would need to move 740k units.

We know what the demand looks like. We know what PS4 selling out looks like. We know what happens to certain metrics like Amazon's best sellers list when the PS4 sells well. We even get (potentially anecdotal) reports from those who work in retail as to their experiences. Those same channels, however unreliable they may be, have still shown us what it looks like when a console sells extremely well.

None of those things have happened this month for the Xbox One. Not to the tune of a 117% sales increase. My conclusion: PS4 outsold Xbox One this month by a margin similar to February (barely 10%).

I think this is a good analysis.
 

Biker19

Banned
Meaningless to who? I think it's very meaningful. If Microsoft is able to sell enough consoles this month to actually pull ahead of Sony overall in NA, that speaks volumes to what things might look like moving forward too. It would be an important change in direction that needs to happen for Microsoft in its home territory.

I don't know about that. And if it did, it was most likely due to the price drops/fire sales & bundling TitanFall with the system.

I really can't think of anything NPD related that would be worthy of posting the bunker picture.

So Xbox sells 200,000 units again like February? Ok?...

That would be bad for Microsoft.
 
XBO > PS4 expected.
XBO >> PS4 not expected.



340k LTD.
160k YTD

That true though I'm pretty sure the X1 will come out ahead by a good margin. Anything else would be a failure given the amount of hype, adveetisement, price cuts, and bundles. I just cannot imagine the Ps4 coming ahead

Better than any other console ever? or as in any other playstation system ever? Just curious.

Best ever
 
Cool then, thanks. But is there a specific reason why it takes a few hours for the info to get around? How do they release the NPD?

Apologies in advance for the question dump :S

It's the generally accepted time for release.

The following has to happen:

1) NPD's press team has to digest the results and get its analysts to interpret the data and write up PR statements and calculate Top 10 results
2) Microsoft has to analyse the results and write up a PR article
3) Nintendo has to analyse the results and combine it with their digital sales data and write up a PR article


2 hours and 30 minutes gives all of the parties plenty of time for that to happen. But it isn't a hard time. For example, Nintendo PR has appeared like 20 minutes before that...or 30 minutes after that...etc.

I believe the specific 6:30 PM date is focused around the time that NPD decides to release its PR, and Sony + Microsoft + Nintendo generally respect that time.
 
I don't know about that. And if it did, it was most likely due to the price drops/fire sales & bundling TitanFall with the system.

Pretty much.

Who knows how long it'll last, but to MS's credit, MS really leveled the playing field as evenly as possible for the month of March.

It was as if every request from the Xbox sales department that would get laughed at by marketing/senior leadership prior to 2014 was getting approved without need for consideration.

Spencer : Need a few million to subsidise those retailers? Fine. EA is asking for that amount for a bundle deal? Pay it. UK is asking for a price-drop on top of it? Full steam ahead.
 

Jburton

Banned
Pretty much.

Who knows how long it'll last, but to MS's credit, MS really leveled the playing field as evenly as possible for the month of March.

It was as if every request from the Xbox sales department that would get laughed at by marketing/senior leadership prior to 2014 was getting approved without need for consideration.

Spencer : Need a few million to subsidise those retailers? Fine. EA is asking for that amount for a bundle deal? Pay it. UK is asking for a price-drop on top of it? Full steam ahead.


What an amazing strategy ....... throw money at it.
 

N.Domixis

Banned
I think xbox outselling by such a huge margin is false. If they were outselling ps4 by more than a couple hundred thousands, than wouldn't retailers also start price cutting and making deals to move ps4s, it would mean ps4 is the one sitting on shelfs while xbox is selling like cazy.
 

borghe

Loves the Greater Toronto Area
Eh?

Jan - PS4: 271K, XB1: 141K

Feb - PS4: 284k, Xbox One: 256K


~160K gap.

um... 160K doesn't seem like a lot in the long run.. but that is a 39% sales advantage to PS4. Honestly the only way it's not significant at all is if you talk about the YTD sales difference in the context of LTD sales. Which is a pretty spin way of doing it.

I think xbox outselling by such a huge margin is false. If they were outselling ps4 by more than a couple hundred thousands, than wouldn't retailers also start price cutting and making deals to move ps4s, it would mean ps4 is the one sitting on shelfs while xbox is selling like cazy.

exactly.. retail 101. If XBONE were selling strong, there wouldn't be price cuts. There seems to be a thought in this thread that MS has been making moves to "try to win NPD". God I hope not. While NPD is important for development and sales planning, and GAF likes to have fun with it... I don't think either of them base their decisions on "winning it" or not. The price cuts are almost definitely because of slower than desired sales. Now maybe those cuts allowed it to sell more units than PS4 for the month of March. We'll find out tonight. But regardless of that, it's pretty tough to come up with a reasonable suggestion as to why everyone cut prices considerably outside of slower than desired sales. "It's a great success. Cut the price!!" makes no sense.
 

robo

Member
A sale is a sale, why would they risk holding some back just to get a bigger monthly number? It makes zero sense.

I was trying to work out the ways that Sony could hit 15Million BYE (which some on here have speculated at, being 7 million begining of April, 8 more months, 1 mil a month, 15mil by year end ish as long as the sales stay as they are)

Just speculating, would Sony try to have a lot more consoles available for the Holidays and still be able to hit the 15million BYE, rather than sell a mil a month and not have enough stock for the Holidays but still hit 15 mil

Going back to the launch threads last year quite a few people on here were saying that the production run would be a fixed amount for so many months, so Sony would get 1 million consoles per month whether they sold them or not for a set period, the majority saying 12 months.

Now if you discount the first 3 months from Aug to Oct where the production was just building up stock at low levels and the actual 1 mil per month didn't kick in until Nov13, then that 12 month period wouldn't be up until Nov14.

This would mean that Sony can't ramp up production until December which would probably mean that they couldn't meet the Holiday sales for the second year in a row.

I'm not saying that Sony would want a higher NPD number, just speculating as to what ways Sony can get to 15mil BYE. :)
 
I'll just say this though.

If XB1 and Titanfall significantly outperformed all expectations, then I've gotta give MS/EA a lot of credit for their restraint.

Because anecdotal observation definitely made it look like it was successful, but not the titanic godslayer that it was hyped up to be.
 

GobFather

Member
Wow, make one comment about how the PS4 doesn't have any system seller at this point in the life cycle and you'll have PS4 fans breathing down your neck..

People responding to your claims, is a normal response.

get jumped on by console warriors lol.

hmm..

Too many people post on PS4 threads about "NO SYSTEM SELLER" "NO GAMES" "NO GOOD EXCLUSIVES."


1. Yes, BOTH exclusives/3RD PARTY matters. If exclusives were all that matters, wiiU will be the best selling console since they can play 3rd party games anywhere else.

2. Sony has about the same amount of exclusive games/3rd party games as xbox but too many people downplay it as though it's not "GOOD" so it doesn't count because it's not their preferred style of exclusive games... which is subjective/opinion. --> read kev's

3. If Sony lacks exclusives as some people claim, then it is doing one hell of a job by breaking sales record with only 3rd party games..

4. Let's not forget Sony's record of having exclusive games.

5. Multiplat games matters due to social influences.

Here is what is doing it:
1. Great price
2. Great software

Now I know the hardcore cannot understand #2 since there isn't shooter hybrid Wrpg exclusive or Naomi from Shenmue animu doll dress up JRPG but it has battlefield, calladuty, asscrud, madden, FIFA, and more. In other words, it has the software people want. In three months it will have gta and the last of us.

It also has free Netflix access and Hulu and other crap.

There are also network effects. Ps4 has become Xbox 360. Your friends have it. Everything is reviewed on it. Developers show their games on it. That it continues to snowball is no surprise.
 

Lemondish

Member
Considering Sony's info dump and emphasis on global sales I'm guessing this could be it. They are trying to get ahead of what is going to be a major headline grabber for MS. I'm sure Gies has his Twitter post already saved in a OneDrive doc.

A few issues with this conclusion.

  1. Sony always info dumps worldwide sales. This isn't a change in behaviour.
  2. A pre-emptive announcement doesn't seem beneficial. Why announce early when it'll just be drowned by MS news? Save it until after to lessen Microsoft's win.
 

dude819

Member
Sony posted their number, which is fantastic, ahead of the NPDs. I take that as a confirmation that MS will have beaten them handily and overtaken them in the US.

We'll see what happens later but usually the person who gets out there first to blurt out a number is the one in the weaker position (see MS the past few months after winning America in December).
 
I think the Xbox One will probably sell around 350K-400k in the U.S this month and I have a feeling the PS4 won't be far behind at all. Maybe even a gap of 20k in favour of MS.

If my prediction turns out to be true, then it wouldn't be much of a victory all things considered and Sony would still have sold the most consoles in the U.S. I also expect PS4 to return as the top selling console in April.

I guess that would be another scenario. 350/400k would be a pretty small bump considering that it sold 258k in February. I'd imagine that they would be looking for more than that with the bundle and marketing that they put into Titanfall in March. But it wouldn't be the first time a major game caused a tiny bump. MGS4 only gave the PS3 a 200k bump in 2008. And the PS3 actually sold less units in March 2010 when GoW3 than it did the month before.
 
You and him, him and you, take a look at the top 10s and break free from the "only exclusives matter" mindset.

UQyl0B0.jpg


People are buying PS4s (and Xbox Ones) to play those games, and the games to come.

Casuals bought the Wii and Kinect for motion controls. Who cares though. I think the question why buy a ps4 gets throw around so much is because for the hardcore gamer there isn't much you can only get on a ps4. Sure battlefield looks better and COD is in 1080p. But that can be had on a lot of other systems.

That's why I haven't bought a PS4 yet. No (exclusive) game I want or care about is on the horizon. Nintendo for all their failings has Smash and Mario Kart. Along with Mario and the upcoming Zelda. MS has a bunch of exclusive titles and some interesting ones on the way like quantum break.

I can see why people are buying ps4s though. The narrative has already swept across the gaming world and the sales follow.
 
What an amazing strategy ....... throw money at it.

Money is... unfortunately, a simple but effective short-term strategy.

Undercutting the competition, creating value through additions of 'extras', etc have quantifiable improvements to a product's sales performance in the short-term.
 

Gorillaz

Member
I don't see a meltdown over Xbox One > PS4, a lot of people in the prediciton thread predicted a victory for Xbox One.

The only meltdown I see happening is if:
1. Last gen consoles bomb horribly
2. Titanfall or Infamous don't make the top 10
3. Vita > 3DS
Or Dark Souls out selling titanfall and possibly infamous
 
It's the generally accepted time for release.

The following has to happen:

1) NPD's press team has to digest the results and get its analysts to interpret the data and write up PR statements and calculate Top 10 results
2) Microsoft has to analyse the results and write up a PR article
3) Nintendo has to analyse the results and combine it with their digital sales data and write up a PR article


2 hours and 30 minutes gives all of the parties plenty of time for that to happen. But it isn't a hard time. For example, Nintendo PR has appeared like 20 minutes before that...or 30 minutes after that...etc.

I believe the specific 6:30 PM date is focused around the time that NPD decides to release its PR, and Sony + Microsoft + Nintendo generally respect that time.
That was really helpful. So in a sense they (Nintendo, MS, Sony) are just given the raw data and they work with it from there. That makes sense. Always thought NPD did that for them.

Better than any other console ever? or as in any other playstation system ever? Just curious.
Already been answered correctly too many times.
 

Lemondish

Member
I was trying to work out the ways that Sony could hit 15Million BYE (which some on here have speculated at, being 7 million begining of April, 8 more months, 1 mil a month, 15mil by year end ish as long as the sales stay as they are)

Just speculating, would Sony try to have a lot more consoles available for the Holidays and still be able to hit the 15million BYE, rather than sell a mil a month and not have enough stock for the Holidays but still hit 15 mil

Going back to the launch threads last year quite a few people on here were saying that the production run would be a fixed amount for so many months, so Sony would get 1 million consoles per month whether they sold them or not for a set period, the majority saying 12 months.

Now if you discount the first 3 months from Aug to Oct where the production was just building up stock at low levels and the actual 1 mil per month didn't kick in until Nov13, then that 12 month period wouldn't be up until Nov14.

This would mean that Sony can't ramp up production until December which would probably mean that they couldn't meet the Holiday sales for the second year in a row.

I'm not saying that Sony would want a higher NPD number, just speculating as to what ways Sony can get to 15mil BYE. :)

I think its much more likely (and natural) to expect a slight downturn in sales by mid-summer going into early Autumn. I expect such a deficit will be more than made up for during the holidays. That downturn would also create a situation where supply is stockpiled for the holiday season without any alteration in production.
 

Interfectum

Member
[*]A pre-emptive announcement doesn't seem beneficial. Why announce early when it'll just be drowned by MS news? Save it until after to lessen Microsoft's win.

It's a common strategy for a company to try to get ahead of potential bad news with good news of their own.
 

Krakn3Dfx

Member
I have little doubt the XB1 will beat out the PS4 handily in the US for the month of March. It was already pretty close in February, and MS had Titanfall bundles and price cuts all over the place. I would expect MS to post probably better than 200+ more than Sony in NPDs sold for the month just for those reasons.

The surprise for me would be if the PS4 was within 100k of the XB1 sales wise for the month. Maybe I'm giving the Titanfall launch more credit than I should though?
 

j_rocca42

Member
Not sure where this should go, but this seems to be a good spot. Costco will soon be carrying a new PS4 bundle that includes Knack, Killzone, and a year of PS+ for $529.99. Not a bad deal for someone looking to get into the new console.
 
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