Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) sold more than 3 million units of Xbox One since the launching of the game console in 13 countries last November 22.
“It’s been incredible to see Xbox One selling at a record-setting pace for Xbox, and we were honored to see Xbox One become the fastest-selling console in the U.S. during our launch month in November,” said Yusuf Mehdi, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Marketing, Strategy and Business, Xbox.
Mehdi added that the demand for Xbox One has been strong, and the game console was selling out during the holiday shopping season in many retailers worldwide. According to him, the company is working hard to ship additional consoles to retailers as soon as possible.
Microsoft Corporation’s (NASDAQ:MSFT) Xbox One is competing against the Sony Corporation’s (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) PlayStation 4 (PS4), which was available in North America one week earlier.
In December, the sales performance of both game consoles were almost at the same level as each company sold more than 2 million units during the first 18 days of its availability in the market. The price tag of the Xbox One is $499 while the PlayStation 4 is cheaper at $399.
Observers in the game console industry opine that the game consoles are unique in their own way. The PlayStation 4 is attractive for players who like social media features because it allows them to share their game status to their friends easily. On the other hand, the Xbox One boasts is multimedia features. It allows players to perform and switch between tasks such as playing games watching movies, listening to music, or using application swiftly.
According to Colin Sebastian, analyst at Robert W. Baird &Co, the competition between the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 is too close to call. He said, “Sony’s PS4 clearly bounced back from our mixed early-2013 supply chain checks, and appears to have a slight momentum edge among core gamers. However, we view the console battle as too close to call, with both platforms selling well over the holidays.”
David Hutchinson, chief video games writer for The Times of London previously stated that the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 will continue to strongly compete against each other over the next decade.
