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PlayStation 4 dominates Xbox One in January with nearly double the US sales

PlayStation 4 dominates Xbox One in January with nearly double the US sales

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xbox vs. playstation
xbox vs. playstation

The PlayStation 4 outsold the Xbox One in the US last month, according to retail sales data tracked by NPD. Sony says that the PS4 was the top-selling console for January and remains in first place worldwide, but hasn't released the actual number of moved units.

Journalist Geoff Keighley, who spoke to PlayStation SVP Guy Longworth, earlier reported that Sony sold nearly twice as many PS4 consoles as its "nearest next-gen competitor" — assumed to be the Xbox One — and PlayStation marketing VP John Koller confirmed the reports to the official PlayStation blog. "Since we launched on November 15th, we’ve sold every PS4 available in the US," he said.

Microsoft isn't revealing its hardware numbers for the month, either, instead choosing to focus on its software performance. With 2.7 million games, the company captured 47 percent of market share at retail in the US — though it wouldn't divulge the breakdown between Xbox One and Xbox 360 titles. Keighley notes that Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition sold twice as many copies on PlayStation 4, according to Sony. NPD software data is less reliable than hardware, however, as it doesn't include digital sales.

Both companies can expect sales bumps

January is a notable point of comparison because it marks the first non-holiday shopping month where both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 were on sale for the same amount of time. Last month the Xbox One took top spot with an impressive 908,000 systems sold in the US. Given that the PS4 has suffered issues with supply constraint while the Xbox One is now easy enough to find at retail, it seems the $100 price difference between the two is starting to have an effect.

Both manufacturers can expect sales bumps in the coming months — next week sees the PlayStation 4's release in Sony's home market of Japan, and the hotly anticipated Titanfall comes to Xbox One on March 11th.