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EA exec reveals PS4 still handily outselling Xbox One

EA exec reveals PS4 still handily outselling Xbox One

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Microsoft hasn’t disclosed sales numbers for its Xbox One console since 2015, but an EA executive let slip a solid data point for the publisher’s current install base — and it’s not hard to do the math and calculate the breakdown based on what he said. As Variety reports, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen said that the company had a “current generation” install base of 103 million at the end of 2017.

At the start of this year, Sony said “the PS4 has now cumulatively sold through more than 73.6 million units globally.” So that leaves around 29.4 million Xbox One consoles to fill out the remainder. And you’ve got to factor in some Nintendo Switch units in there too, even if FIFA 18 is the only title that EA produced for the console last year.

Microsoft has since come out and told Variety that “these projections are wrong,” without specifying why or how far off the mark they are. The PS4 and Xbox One are in a tighter race when you look at North America in a vacuum. Microsoft scored a rare sales win just as 2017 came to a close.

Sales totals are what they are. All three current-gen consoles are enjoying strong pickup with consumers, but the distribution of marketshare is certainly a reflection of Microsoft’s early mistakes with the Xbox One that it later corrected. It now has the most powerful gaming console on the market. Sony played to its strengths from the beginning. Same for Nintendo; the portable component, amazing games, and continued creativity being poured into the Switch have helped it become a sensation. We’ll see more of what the big three have in store for gamers at E3 in just a few short weeks.