When reading through N4G comment sections there are often links given to Amazon pre-order tables for the next generation of consoles. The reason for this is likely that there are no official figures to work with and, with Amazon being rather a large multinational online retailer, they're about the closest thing any of us has to comment on.
Sometimes people link to the current "Movers and Shakers" chart (or equivalent) but as that is only a snapshot of the sales rank based on sales in the past 24 hours vs the time prior to that, it doesn't give a useful picture of what the state of play is.
Similarly, while both nexgen consoles are heading for a large scale or worldwide release, it's rare to see preorder sales details for anywhere other than the USA.
So, after seeing a post by MysticStrummer that linked to the various Amazon sites around the globe, I took it upon myself to locate each of the "2013 seales-to-date" charts in the Video Games sections of each site and tracked down both the ps4 and Xbox One day one, bundle-free editions in the top 100 (if present). In the image you will see my findings with a handy comparison figure showing how far apart the consoles are from each other.
I'm not going to go into any kind of deep analysis of these numbers as they effectively speak for themselves, with ps4 sitting ahead in each and every region where one or both consoles chart. I omitted Austria as their chart seemed to be identical to the German chart and given the close nature of both countries I guessed that both were essentially the same operation. As for France and Italy having the same results (ps4 placed 19th, xb1 uncharted), this doesn't seem to be the case here, just a coincidence, looking at other results the charts were seen to be different. The chart only shows the relative sales position of each console, there are no hard numbers and obviously this is only a single retailer, albeit arguably the largest multinational out there.
I decided to take a look at these charts when I was surprised to see a large gap (35 places) in the preorders for the UK. I'm not trying to suggest anything much can be read into the gap simply because, for all we know, all items between ps4 and xb1 could have sold in very similar numbers. However, considering the ABBA dance game on Wii has sold more than xb1 preorders so far in 2013, it is likely there is something of a gap (either that or ABBA are back in a big way in 2013). Personally, I always considered the UK to be an Xbox stronghold, possibly the only region outside North America where Microsoft are known to have a healthy lead over Sony for the current generation of consoles... but these numbers seem to suggest otherwise for the coming generation, at least at this very early stage - while I am aware this is only pre-orders and just a single retailer, the difference is surprising.
Perhaps more surprising are the French and Italian charts - the xb1 does not even make the top 100 sellers of 2013 so far. Maybe these countries are just not big on pre-orders? It certainly seems that Japan prefers to buy video game items it can have right now as neither console registers in the top 100.
Spain and Germany/Austria show a healthy 15-place lead for ps4, but more interestingly with Sony's new console in first place for these territories, ahead of big sellers such as Live Gold and The Last Of Us.
Feel free to let me know what these figures mean to you in the comments below.
related image
The Amazon preorder sales chart for nexgen consoles throughout Amazon regions.
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It's about time we talk about the flamethrower and how it should be made better in Helldivers 2, starting with the ability to destroy bug holes.
This is something i have researched also.
I'd like to bring up a point, though. (I read all of it and I don't believe you mentioned this.) Both the PS4 and the X1 launch consoles are sold out in the US. So there are no more consoles to be bought on Amazon. To me, this means it's tough to judge the demand for the consoles because people aren't able to buy anymore than the alotted amount.
PS4 is now selling bundles as the launch console. I don't think the X1 is doing this. I think they are just selling non launch edition X1s now. And if you look, the PS4 actually has another launch system in the top 100 (currently) at number 81. It's the watch dog launch bundle which is also sold out. What I'm trying to say is that it's tough to compare the two systems because they both are sold out. There could be plenty of people wanting to buy a console but Amazon is sold out of the launch systems.
Mover's and Shaker's really just show how quickly something sells over a time frame. This is why they can vary wildly from day to day. X1 had it's spot at #1, and then moved around.
It's not a bad way to get a general view of what's popular, but it's a far cry from being able to use it to ascertain numbers since no one really knows the time frames used.
Generally you can look at the numbers and see what's sold more in this case, simply because they were both made available at the same time. Other than that both companies are in PR mode, so any kind of substantial number is just speculation. After launch things will become clearer to those that care about sales numbers, and let's face it, to a fan boy of either side they will discredit the competition's sales in some fashion.
So ps4 is killing it like we all thought. M$ can't screw gamer and get away with it. I have never been so proud of gamers ever. I hope M$ gets as much hate for this as sony did for the price of ps3 (which was BS IMO)
They mean nothing to me. Is that good enough?