PS4 outselling Xbox One in the UK

Sony's Playstation 4 launched in the UK today, and retailer GAME said the demand for pre-orders of the PS4 was four times higher than it had seen for the PS3. Some fans slept out overnight in a bid to be among the first in the country to get their hands on the new generation console.

[allformats]

From article: "It’s still very early in the new console wars but it looks like Sony’s PlayStation 4 seems to have a slight early edge over Microsoft’s Xbox One so far."

From same article: "The Telegraph reports that retailer GAME says that early demand for the PS4 is off the charts and that preorders for the new console have been around four times greater than what it saw for the PlayStation 3."

That doesn't seem like a "slight" advantage to me, as PS3 actually beat Xbox One in UK first week sales.

This seems more like a landslide.

[Mikelarry]

i mean cheaper price and its been touted to be more powerful anyone would be deluded to not have seen this coming

[cleft5]

This should hardly come as a surprise to anyone.

[Sarcasm]

Well... there's a lot of delusion going around.

I mean some people can argue the Kinect features, exclusive X1 games, and argue how much they love the Xbox ecosystem. It's respectable.

But what people can't argue are the facts that 1. PS4 is more powerful 2. PS4 costs less

In which is a pretty simple formula that = sales sales sales

[Lunarassassin]

I got my ps4, Kilzone Shadow Fall, an extra controller and the camera for £430.
I'd consider myself an idiot if i got an xbox one instead.

[morganfell]

@ come_bom,

I do not believe Microsoft forecasted this Sony lead because they did not plan on Sony releasing until 2014. I think they also underestimated the horsepower which Sony would bring to the table. When Sony made their announcement in February as regards early specs and release date I think Redmond was in shock. So very much about the Xbox One, particularly the initial policies regarding games and DRM are the sort of things that behind closed door meetings and sufficient market research would have eliminated prior to their ever having seen the light of day. Instead MS went final with a very early design of the Xbox One, both hardware and DRM, in order to match Sony on their launch window.

It was a monumental error.

[vigilante_man]

I think when the dust settles in a few weeks or so the difference in sales will be very noticeable. The PS4 in the UK will not meet demand this year. And the same for the US.

The PS4 will dominate the sales in the US and the UK. What a turn around. It seems that world wide the PS4 is in HUGE demand. We have never seen anything like this before.

The Sony brand in games is on a high. Great exclusives, consoles developed for gamers and developers and the PS Vita will get caught up in the hype as well. Sony have done a great job these past 5 years.

The PS+ is just an insane bargain when compared to XBLive. You get PS3, PS Vita and PS4 games for one price. We will see many people want to own all three. Sony are owning gaming right now! People actually believe Sony care about gaming and are passionate.

Microsoft - well, I only hope (the past suggest false hope) they get their act together. The perception is they only care about making a quick buck and have no true and genuine interest in gaming and developers. The 360 sales prompted Sony to get their house (sorry Andrew) in order. Maybe this will make the 720 a better proposition when it is released in 5-7 years time.

[Computersaysno]

Ahh but it is 'slight' like the power difference between the consoles?

(as in, way bigger than some people would want you to believe)

[nukeitall]

The only deluted ones are the fanboys thinking their world is the end all be all. Did you forget how Wii swept over the market and beat any core gaming console?

Point being, remember when PS4 preorders were supposedly at 4-10 times greater than Xbox One. Yet the actual sales figures, says they are even and then we get articles like this;

http://n4g.com/news/1404539...

Even the article itself states that retailers expect the Xbox One to be the bet this Christmas. That said, I think this early in the stage, it doesn't matter, because sales are bounded by supply and the long term strategy is what is going to matter when the dust settles after all the hype.

From the article;

While both consoles have generated a lot of excitement and interest, the UK's high street retailers appeared to be betting on the Xbox One over the PS4 in the run up to Christmas.
"We believe the Xbox One and PS4 will revolutionise the market," said Phil Samuels, category director for consumer electronics at Currys and PC World in the UK. He said that shoppers have already put in more pre-orders for both than expected but "so far the Xbox is nudging into the lead".

Jonathan Marsh, head technology buyer at John Lewis, also said the department store is expecting more interest in the Xbox One.
“We are stocking both the PS4 and the Xbox One but if we were to back one, we are thinking that Xbox One will appeal a bit more to our customers in terms of the experience it creates," he said.
"If we had to edge one, I would favour the Xbox One. The software that the Xbox One launches with will really appeal to our customer base based on what we’ve experienced in the past.”

[morganfell]

If Michael Pachter has taught us anything then it is quoting a market analyst or buyer as proof is suicide. Do the opposite and you'll be fine.

John Lewis ignores the fact one of these systems is it's corporation's cornerstone and the other is it's parent company's albatross.

One system will become outdated quicker - the weaker system. And when Gaikai comes online goodbye everybody else.

[Ritsujun]

4 times?
Tehh clOuDz gonna make the Xbone180/720p's 4x more pawaaful!!

[nukeitall]

@morganfell:

"One system will become outdated quicker - the weaker system. And when Gaikai comes online goodbye everybody else. "

if gakai is the killer app, then why would we care about the power of the console?

After all, Gakai can run on a Windows Phone, like how MS has shown Halo running.

Personally, I think for the most part, streaming game service will be even more annoying than lag in online multiplayer games.

There isn't just a sort latency requirement, but also the consistent bandwidth requirement. The compression artifacts alone will kill any awesome graphics that might happen.

[morganfell]

I believe you do not understand Gaikai and why it actually works. And Gaikai isn't bound for tablets for gaming though they will use it to deliver media. The fact that you are not aware of this shows even more how little you know about the service.

If it is only software then you discount the power of PlayStation Plus as well as all of the titles on the PS3 that shoved the 360 into 3rd place. Also if you discount software what is left? Hardware and on that fron the X1 is woefully outmatched.

The fact is Gaikai works because of the engineering and it will no doubt encourgage PS3 owners to move even quicker to the PS4. Since you can drop a PS3 disc into the PS4 and it is recognized it could easily be used to authorize ownership of streamed PS3 games. It may also be that Sony will institute B/C on the PS4 to encourage owners to move to the 4.

Whatever, hold onto that idea of the X1 getting somewhere against Sony. Like so many threads I'll bookmark this one to revisit. We spent the entire last gen being right about what would happen and were viciously attacked for it. Now that we have been vindicated people still keep throwing themselves against the wall.

We didn't make our predictions last gen based on fanboyism but rather an examination of the facts, market trends, and an understanding of gamers. This gen we are doing the same thing and are being proven right every day so by all means disagree.

Game set and match to Sony. They are showing no signs of slowing and though this gen may last a while MS isn't going to pull a turn around as they are limited by hardware. Nothing to be done there. Sony from day 1 put gamers first and with the catalog coming for the PS4 - the next big, nexy gen talked about title hits the PS4 before any such game is on the X1, Sony is fastracking a gen win.

[mochachino]

It's from Yahoo News which is owned by MS. They can't exactly lie and say PS4 isn't outselling MS but they aren't exactly telling the truth when they say slightly.

Early reports are that PS4 nearly doubled xone sales.

[yarbie1000]

Can you show me where Microsoft owns Yahoo news?

[Sevir]

Lol, Yahoo is its own thing, MS tried to do a hostile acquisition of Yahoo and its search engine when it was trying to establish Bing, and that didnt pan out.

[HighResHero]

They have been subtly downplaying PS4's success since before it was even launched.

[a08andan]

Well since I doubt that all those ps4 are available in the UK at launch, the advantage could still be "slight" if looking at launch sales. We don't know that yet. But if you look at GAME's pre-order numbers for both consoles, then it appears as if it is a "landslide" :)

[ovnipc]

Xbox should sell the xbox one with out kineck for $375 to close that gap.

[Hicken]

Yes, they should. But they won't. Not for some time. And that will cost them.

[xxxGEOxxx]

I thought the Kinect was mandatory for the Xbox One to work, or am I mistaken?

[Sarcasm]

^Kinect isn't mandatory anymore.

Man I would actually buy a kinect-less Xbox One for $349.

[GrandTheftZamboni]

@Sarcasm

"kinect-less Xbox One"

Wouldn't that be more appropriately called Xbone Half?

[pompombrum]

If it really is a landslide, I can only hope Microsoft takes it all as a humbling experience and starts to focus on gamers again. It's no surprise that the console for gamers is more popular with gamers than the all in one entertainment box.

[UncleGermrod]

the 4x preorers still do not indicate how much mre the demand for xbox 1 wasup from the 360, so you cannot call it a landslide, yet.

[Biggest]

Microsoft already confirmed that the Xbone was preordered/sold at a 2:1 ratio over the 360. The PS3 was preordered/sold at a higher ratio over the 360. Therefore, math = PS4 by a landslide.

[assdan]

Trying to seem somewhat impartial in case the earlu numbers are wrong would be my guess.

[MEGANE]

That doesn't mean X1 is failing. Both consoles are going to do very good, Ps4 a little bit better (just the way I like it, so sony doesn't get all cooky again). Is nintendo who is giving them part of its share market. Plus new comers cuz the industry still growing. I don't think the steam machine is gonna make a dent on the big 3. I only see geeks, nerds and core pc gamers buying it.

[johndoe11211]

Sorry, but I gotta ask, are you serious? A Little Better? Microsoft sold 1 million units in 24 hours in 13 countries, ps4 sold the same 1 million units in 24 hours in only 2 countries. Sony Just released in Europe and it was pure chaos. This isn't "a little better", this is a massacre.

Nintendo weren't the ones who gave sony part of the market share, that was microsoft with there initial xbox one "Vision" and their continued pr disasters.

I agree that both consoles will do good but I don't think the battle will be close, at least not for the next 2-3 years.

I also agree with you on the steam machine not making a major dent but we could be wrong on that.

[mikeslemonade]

The cocky Sony was when gaming was at its best. Whatever happened to all the Japanese games?? Last generation was centered too much on three genres sports, shooters, and racing.

[mhunterjr]

Supply and demand. The number of consoles sold per country doesn't matter. Obviously, MS shipped fewer consoles to each of the 13 countries, than Sony did to each of the two countries it launched in. What matters is sold vs shipped.... And both companies are on pace to sell 3mill by years end.

The battle will be close for as long as there exist supply constraints. And you better believe that MS has a strategic maneuver in place for when Sony starts to actually meet demand.

It's silly to predict some sort of landslide this early in the race. Especially when folks are expecting a new distribution model before 2015.

[MEGANE]

OK, I'm been modest. Is a PlayStation fanboy my wildest dream its to se them triumph over the competition by K.O, but am also aware that competition is healthy, at least for customers. I don't want MS out of the business, but i want my console of choice to be better. Honestly i hope PS4 sells a lot so U.S gets better PS plus deals and better games(like Titan Fall). Only time will tell.

BTW... MS launch in 13 countries? i though it was only N.A and U.K, in that case DAM!!!, but once agin we should be able to tell after the Holidays.

[Pogmathoin]

Well said megane, no matter what, competition is important. Without the 360, the PS4 you know today probably would have been different. Hopefully the great start for PS4 will spur MS into doing something great in response. This is whats called a win win people. Those wanting just one dominant player, please go read history books on every subject, and realise that situation never works out well for people. Bubble for you sir!

[johndoe11211]

@Ps4beaver

This has absolutely nothing to do with "wanting just one dominant player", this has to do with reality and what is happening right now.

The fact is that the ps4 is destroying the xbox one in sales regardless if anyone wants to hear it or not. Reality.

With that being said, the xbox is still going to sell and is going to sell well. I believe sales will pick up in the future. Whether or not it will meet or exceed ps4 demand and sales, only time will tell.

And for your information, it's not that people only want the ps4 to exist and want the xbox to go out of existence, it's that microsoft has created a very very bad rep for themselves with the xone and it will be a long time,if ever, before people forget what they tried to do.

They have lost a lot of support and they continue to have pr blunders so the criticism of them and the xone continues. People who blindly accept and support everything microsoft does are the only ones who don't seem to understand why the xone and microsoft continues to receive the criticism they do.

Having one gaming system is not good for the industry but neither is fanatic supporters of a company that clearly does not give a rat's a$$ about the consumers. That is just as dangerous.

Microsoft needed to learn a lesson and a hard one at that.

And finally, let me fix this statement for you:
" Without the ps4 and sony's stance on DRM, gaming as you know today probably would have been different. Hopefully the great start for PS4 will spur MS into never trying to rape and destroy the gaming industry again. This is whats called a win win people."

[johndoe11211]

@mhunterjr

Do you know what renders your comment totally irrelevant? The fact that someone from microsoft (or it could have been a xone first party studio) stated before the launches that they had just as much pre-orders as sony.

You know what was funny about that statement? Almost every retailer was reporting that the pre-orders for the ps4 were way higher than the pre-orders for the xone.

Either the retailers were lying or the microsoft rep was lying. Which one do you think?

Supply and demand? Retailers are still reporting on unsold xbox one's sitting on shelves, some of them are day one launch systems. On the flip side, trying to locate a ps4 is like looking for a needle in a hay stack.

Granted there will be a couple of places where you can still walk in and get a ps4 but based on the reports that have been coming in, it is a lot more unlikely for you to locate a ps4 than an xbox one.

Remove those xbox shaped goggles from your face and try to look at the world through your natural eyes. Or are they welded on?

[pompombrum]

The UK is generally a more of an Xbox place nowadays than PS.. if the Xbox One is being outsold by the PS4, that's a pretty big blow to Microsoft, second only to losing the North American market share.

[ToyboxDX]

I think you have understated the importance of this outcome.

US and UK are the only 2 most important markets, ever, for MS for the XB360 and now they've been beaten hands down by the PS4, at least during the launch period.

If MS cannot reclaim these 2 markets (which I think they won't be able to) in 1 to 2 years time, it's game over.

Game over not in finished, but rather a distance 2nd or 3rd for the lifespan of this new generation.

[imt558]

Quote from article :

Sony's Playstation 4 launched in the UK today, and retailer GAME said the demand for pre-orders of the PS4 was four times higher than it had seen for the PS3.

Sony sold 165K PS3's at launch in UK.

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/r...

PS4 beat the shit out of Xbone in UK!

PLAYSTATION DOMINATION!

[ToyboxDX]

Hmm... I thought there were around 300K units for UK and most of them were gone?

Is there any other source on the sell through rate?

[mochachino]

All I know it that I'm very happy I got a PS4.

And every time a digital foundry comparison comes out, I'm even happier.

[MasterCornholio]

Yep digital Foundary is an Xbox fans worse enemy.

I was getting tired of them making claims of muiplats being better their console without any proof to back it up.

[SoulWarrior]

It was very much Xbox land in the UK, there are a lot of people and 'chavs' that would by the 360 as its cheap just to play each yearly Cod/Fifa and nothing else.

Glad to see things are changing a bit :)

[Pintheshadows]

There are still a ton of people waiting for PS4's in the UK as well. The demand is unbelievable.

[Ricegum]

I know a few people who didn't know they'd have to preorder and are now stuck with no PS4 until new year haha.

[Pintheshadows]

Right, get this. I am in HMV today looking at buying the camera. I'm seriously considering picking up NBA2K14 as well (not played a basketball game in years). Anyway, I overhear a guy in his fifties asking if they had any in stock. The answer was no obviously. He was looking for one as an Xmas present. Long story short, he approached me, asked if I had a PS4, I do. He then offered me £500 cash and a lift to my house to pick up the console.

I declined outright, but they are that sought after. I have never had anything like that happen to me before.

[tehpees3]

Yeah well the only reason to buy XBO over PS4 is either you are desperate to play MS software or brand loyalty.

It was obvious from the day it set up PS4 was going to beat it on a worldwide scale.

[mrmarx]

Beat the xbone down to the ground sony

[AJ Hartley]

Glad ive got mine its amazing I say be patient to all the folks who dont have it as when you get it there will be only more games to play :0 cant wait destiny , watchdogs here I come .

[5eriously]

PS4GreatnessAwaits no more. #PS4GreatnessArrived It's here and in supreme command!
Sony must now increase production and make stocks available en_mass to meet demand worldwide! I think they slipped a bit on that front! I just wonder how many XBone's were bought because of the sheer reason that the PS4 was not available in stock! Come now Sony lets not wait too long!

@Ps4beaver ["Well said megane, no matter what, competition is important. Without the 360, the PS4 you know today probably would have been different. Hopefully the great start for "]

I find it strange that with the PS2 domination there was no holding back from Sony at all. Many years and about 4000 games later the PS3 arrived and many very good first class games later the PS4 arrived. Sony NEVER rested on their laurels. So I do not see how anything would have been to much different! But yeah competition is good as this launch result will surely stimulate the Microsoft think tank and keep them in check if they are not going to sell off the Xbox brand.

[Goku781]

The revolution will be televised! Live from Playstation so many happy talking, helpful people! Players, not "Gamers" united! The onslaught continues!

[SpinalRemains138]

Andre the Giant was slightly larger than a Hobbit.

[vigilante_man]

Well done - quote of the day!

[KakashiHotake]

No surprises here. Sony's been kicking the crap out of Microsoft ever since these consoles were announced. Sony KO'd them at the press release, KO'd them at E3, KO'd at TGS, KO'd, at Gamescom, KO'd them in North America launch, KO'd them in the UK, bout to murder them in Japan. This isn't even a contest really, it's more like a slaughter.

[Vanna]

It was really crazy here in the uk, i have followed gaming for a long time and never really seen anything on this scale before. We preordered as soon as they were up, one came friday one saturday the delivery guy was really stressed on Friday.

Would be shocked if MS still managed to outdo PS on release, the hype seemed much less downplayed on x1 day as well it was really noticable to me anyway.

[EffectO]

hopefully

lmao

[Max-Zorin]

More hate mail to get.

[S2Killinit]

whats more is that Playstation platforms tend to do better as time goes.

[chrisarsenalsavart]

I was at Covent garden Thursday night for the launch and one of the playstation reps told us over 400000 units have been allocated for the UK alone and that Sony,s first goal was to provide an additional 300000 units by the end of the year to avoid any Christmas disappointments.
Their goal is very simple. Take back the market share they lost last generation.

[ToyboxDX]

Good to hear they allocated 400K units for UK, if this initial lot and the upcoming 300K units all sold out by end Dec, Sony would have 700K installed base.

And probably will hit 1 million units by Jan or early Feb in UK.

Edit: Haha, didn't know about the bubble thing, now used up all my bubbles it seems :P

[S2Killinit]

I got to say, you cant beat the value of the PS4. I mean at least 7 years of gaming! and I don't mean 3-4 years of gaming plus casual focus from then on, I actually mean 7-10 years of gamer support. for what? 399? that is one hell of a deal. my f***in phone alone cost me 600 dollars!

[Cyanide85]

Well all I can say is that my local gamestop where I got my PS4, on the midnight launch I started talking to the owner of this particular store and he actually said that they had 90 pre-orders for the PS4 and 10 for the Xbone, and I live in a small town.

Has anyone heard anything of the sales numbers for the PS4 here in Europe by the way?

[chrisarsenalsavart]

Well if sony shipped around 400000 in the uk alone, it is only fair to assume that the rest of eu and pal region will get at least the same

[Toman85]

Where is Belking, JokesOnYou, Edonus where we need them most and they can say all sales is lying, digital foundry is lying and so on. :P
Before I get attacked, I need to point this out.
29th november I got both PS4 and Xbox One <---(imported it from Germany MS store)

[drsfinest72]

Seen this coming from a mile away. That price point on ps4 is huge

[Ps4Console]

I'am enjoying my Ps4 so much you won't believe .

[thecowsaysmoo]

Xbox One price is the biggest factor in this situation. But you guys have to admit the Xbox One is getting some great upcoming games.

Halo 5
Titan Fall
Quantum Break
Fable Legends
Sunset Overdrive
D3

Not to say ps4 wont have any great games.

[ShinraE5]

I am not surprised. The PS4 had much better momentum going into the launch window thanks to the early X1 blunders. It is 100 cheaper. And PS+ is an amazing value.

However, I liked the X1 exclusives in comparison to the PS4's, at least early on. So I bought an X1 and will get a PS4 in 2015.

Killer Instinct has been a blast, Ryse was MUCH better than the metacritic would have you think and Dead Rising 3 is seriously impressive. I am also looking forward to Quantum Break, Halo 5, and Titanfall. D3, Sunset Overdrive and Fable Legends have my curiosity, they just need to prove themselves.

The PS4 only had two games which caught my interest, which is infamous ss and the order. I know they will produce that gaming greatness for me soon enough.

In the end, I hope all the console sell well and all the gamers have fun.

Reading the comments on N4G makes me wonder do people care about gaming like they usto, or is it all about fanboyish squealing and bashing...

[spoonard]

Why is this news? It's not a surprise to anyone. No one expected the Xbone to sell very well in the EU or outsell the PS4 un the US and Canada. Didn't the PS3 consistently outsell the Xbox 360? That's why the PS3 eventually overtook the 360 in worldwide sales. So this is completely expected. The previous gen didn't even set a backdrop for this. This isn't news.

[AHall88]

And in other news the sky is blue.

[V0LT]

Actually its black right now for me.

[Moose613]

So for me it was an abvious decision. Cheaper and more powerful. Only down fall having to pay for online gaming. But with that said I am very happy with the FREE games you get with Psn membership. Resogun is alot of fun contrast great concept a little buggy at times but is alot of fun. Im looking forward to drive club for free on psn when that comes. So paying to play online has its benefits, what you ask? FREE GAMES.

[kingcasper]

must be alot more asians in the UK then i expected..

[Azzanation]

Did any of you nut jobs read the Article or just the heading?

There expecting XB1 to outsell the PS4 during Xmas.

[xboxjaun]

Why do you care which gaming console is going to sell more? Are you making the money? Yeah I thought. The reason most people want a ps4 cause it's more powerful I don't care if the ps4 is more powerful. If I really worried about specs I would have bought a pc.

[xDHAV0K24x]

SOOOO....what does this change???