Honestly, Did Everyone Really Expect PS4 To Do This Well?

PlayStation 4 is a hit. But if you turn back the clock, did you really expect this sort of result? Right around 2012, it didn't seem all that likely.

[Germany7]

After the great exclusives released for PS3 in the last years, and the E3 conference that revealed the price and no used games policy, you could expect a lot of sales.
Consoles are doing pretty well, PS4 with these incredible numbers and Xbox One breaking the record of the Xbox 360, even after all the propaganda against consoles in general.

[Majin-vegeta]

As a hardcore PS fan.No way I ever thought it would do this well.I thought the sales would be about even for both sides.

[die_fiend]

When Xbone was announced it was the worst thing ever. Showing off a massive VCR looking box whose main USP was that it played TV (like anyone didn't have TV?), barely anything on games and all the power reserved for Kinect. As an MS fan before, I was appalled and so I'm not surprised it's tanking. Unless they finally bring out a good game on the console, I'll never pick one up.

[crazychris4124]

I knew the new consoles would do well but nothing like this. Over 22 million for PS4 and close to 15 million for the X1 is just insane. Loving my X1 and hope to get the MGS 5 PS4 bundle once Sony wakes up and announces it for the West.

[BitbyDeath]

15M is a bit of a stretch no?
In comparison of this last quarter Sony shipped 3.8M (PS4).
MS shipped 1.6M (XB1+360).

MS might be near/at 13M shipped, given they were near 10M shipped last Nov and shipped less than 1.6M XB1 over the past 3 months.

[crazychris4124]

I said close, I saw 1 site say around 13, 1 say around 14 and one around 14.5

[thanhgee]

@crazychris4124

I'm 99% sure those sites have fake numbers rofl

The only place you should get your numbers from are the manufacturers themselves.

[nix]

Even MS' shipped numbers are less than Sony's sold numbers.

Oh... What a day.. What a day..

#whoknew

[Qrphe]

Honestly know, I didn't see either consoles doing better than the last particularly with how well mobile seemed to be doing. Now mobile isn't looking so well and PS4 is on its way to hit 100M. Crazy

[masterfox]

Since I'm not a fanboy and have common sense, have knowledge about how data processing works(Computer Engineer cough..cough.. ;)), so the first time I saw the specs of the PS4 I knew it was going to be an instant winner!, and believe me people what we saw so far from the PS4 is just a taste of what is coming ;)

Be excited be really excited!!

[Rimeskeem]

Honestly, 2 years before the launch of the consoles I told myself I was going to xbox because that's where my friends were. When they announced both consoles, i immediately changed my mind and went back to Playstation. I'm pretty sure things changed dramatically due to MS (imo) terrible press.

[ps360s]

I was going to buy both consoles! but the debut of the xbox one E3 conference toke that away from me

[leogets]

I was guna buy an xbox one for a heater in the bedroom. Decided just to use my central heating

[OB1Biker]

I thought it was more like a water cooler..
kidding but I really thought xbox would be top selling in the US and PS4 in the rest of the world.

Other than that it doesnt really matter much to me as long as I enjoy my consoles

[chrisx]

personally i knew it would. the ps4 had Alot going on for it and overwhelmingly positive vibes

[_-EDMIX-_]

I did for many reasons. PS3's slow start is due to its original price. At the end of the gen....PS3 still outsold 360 at a higher price point.

With the Wii craze done with and with both systems on an even playing field and Bluray cheaper to have in systems, its pretty easy to see them selling more units and this much.

Consider PS2 did better then PS1, PS3 is Sony's only system to not do well from the start.

PS4 is pretty much picking up from fame of PS1, PS2 etc. This pretty much is what PS systems typically sell if for the right price.

Add in trusted long term support late in PS3's gen, ie GT6, Last Of Us, Beyond Two Souls etc

Annoucing PS4 was pretty much saying, stick with PS long term.

MS had very little long term support for really XB or 360, which just over all helps Sony in marketing themselves as "For gamers"

Consider most gamers will put money on Sony having new ips and releases even up until the very announcement of PS5....

I can't say the same for MS nor Nintendo which might be why neither have a long history of selling such an amount of consoles.

MS crazy launch I feel added some units, but not as much as many thing. XONE is still selling better then 360 did the same number of months in.

PS sold more then XB last gen, the gen before, releasing around the same time, it was clear PS would continue to still sell better then MS and Nintendo in terms of consoles.

The same reasons to own a PS are still the same reasons. Wii U isn't doing Wii numbers and 360's timed games may have soured some gamers into becoming long term fans.

If you got a 360 for Lost Planet, Bioshock, Mass Effect etc, no doubt they are great games, but now that they are every where else, it makes you just a fan of the ip...just like what happened with the Wii with a lot of its titles (ie Just dance, EA Fit, No More Heros etc).

One of the reasons for PS success is due to just the number of new ips every single gen. Its a reason that just isn't behind an ip, you can like Mario, you can like Halo, but all gamers like new ips in some form. How can one hate in which they have no clue exactly what its going to entail?

Scalebound, Horizon, Black Tusk new FPS, Quantic Dreams new ip etc. They all excite, but only one out of the 3 is known to do this each and every gen.

Crash, Spyro
Jak, Sly, Ratchet
Uncharted, Infamous, Resistance, The last Of Us, Motorstorm
The Order, Driveclub, Horizon, Knack etc.

What PS gamers are in love with is not just the established ips....its the concept of fresh new ips like clock work.

You don't need to be a PS, XB, Nintendo etc gamer to be excited about Scalebound, Horizon etc. Why? Well you don't know what they are, but they are fresh, new concepts and Sony sells PS systems just based on fresh new concepts, not just older concepts.

Think about it, they are the only one the 3 that actively does this and are the only ones that have sold 100 million or more the most times with consoles. Hell, there worst selling PS, sold better then MS best selling and the best selling Nintendo console hasn't beat the best selling PS. They clearly are doing something right to have such a large strong base.

[andibandit]

I kinda expected the PS3 to match or beat the PS2, afterall all companies strive to do better with each iteration of their product.
However after seeing the PS3 performing under par, I didn't quite know what to expect from the PS4, but im glad to see theyre back on track.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

No not this good.. They're putting up historical numbers, PS2 numbers. It's safe to say that the year head start of the 360 and the high price of the PS3 is what made that such an uphill battle, but this return to dominance has been immediate and consistent. What was said? A unit sold every 2 seconds? That's crazy.

[Fkhalf16]

The pace that the PS4 is selling in this period of time with Mobile and PC Gaming on the rise, NO, Hell NO!!!

[MasterCornholio]

What surprised me most was how badly Microsoft scewed up. Nintendo screwing up with the Wii U didn't surprise me all though.

[BladerunnerZX]

After Microsofts terrible Xbox One announcement I knew the PS4 would be the go to next gen
Game console for the core console gamers.
Don Mattrick killed the Xbox brand with his push on the Kinect
And trying to claim the casual market that had moved on to mobile and tablets.

I knew that Nintendo had lost the support of core gamers with the Wii
Every gamer knew that the Wii was a success due to casuals that don't really
Play videogames and have absolutely no vested interest in gaming at all.
It was no surprise to me that the Wii U was destined to fail especially
With that horrible name that made casuals think it was just an add on for the Wii.

[DEEBO]

I seen it coming from a mile away.

Ps3 was like Rocky making a coming back in the later rounds and Sony wasn't going to make the same mistake twice so they made sure the PS4 was the more stronger systems.

Games has always been sony strong suite. Look at the history of their systems. They have so many titles that they can't even bring them all out.
While MS gets into this cycle of the same games every two years.forza year one,forza year two.
and they abandoned the 360 A's soon as the Xbox one was coming.

The Don guy was a snobbish dude and rub gamers the wrong way.with the internet around news travels fast and the word was out about the x1 and it's horrible policy and the bad PR didn't help.no RROD to inflate the numbers, released in the same month of sony(no year jump)

Even a blind man could see this coming.

[Themba76]

was a die hard xbox fan but after e3 2013 I knew what time it was and saw the writing on the wall. the next day went gamestop and preordered ps4 battlefield 4 bundle it was time to move on.

[InTheLab]

Without that year head start, did anyone honestly think MS would win? After finishing 3rd last gen? After damn near half the consoles it sold are either rrod or people buying multiple models? After basically saying screw the troops in our own country? After trampling on consumer rights?

Even if the launch of the X1 went off with zero issues, they are still going up against a company that has sold more consoles in less time than any other brand. Hell, add it all up and they've almost outsold MS and Nintendo combined.

People seem to forget what the PS3 did last gen. The most expensive console for an entire gen outsold the 360 by a few million each year and took the 2nd place spot right around the 75 million mark. With each new milestone the 360 reached, the ps3 was only weeks behind Despite the perception of having no games, the hack of 2011, a higher price point all gen, a perception that multiplats ran better on the xbox, etc.

Not to take away what MS and Nintendo accomplished last gen but did anyone honestly think Sony would lose twice?

Sony is to consoles what Nintendo is to handhelds. The numbers don't lie. There's simply more PS fans out there than Xbox and Nintendo.

[Bronxs15]

Reminds me of how Nintendo did with the wii. No one saw that success after the game cube.

[Demoa]

After xbox one and wii u shit the bed on launch it. It gave casual players one option and that was the ps4.

[SegaGamer]

I had a feeling it would do very well, the Xbox One's awful start helped make things easier though.

[WickedLester]

I expected it to roughtly do PS3 numbers. I was NOT prepared for it to outpace the PS2. That was most certainly a surprise. Not so much because of what MS was doing with X1 but just from the sheer competition from mobile and PC gaming.

The PS4 has earned the "cool system" title this generation. Really that is the race you have to win in order to win the generation. Those playground and lunch table conversations carry a LOT of influence among school age gamers and the PS4 has resoundly won that battle I think.

[Back-to-Back]

Yes. While Sony's presentation at E3 was very good, MS basically forced many on the fence buyers and some XBOX fans to jump ship to the PS4.

[WickedLester]

That's not why the PS4 is dominating. Sure, it influenced some to jump ship but not to THIS degree. Not THESE kinds of numbers.

The reason why the Playstation is doing so well this generation is because...well...it kind of always has. Last generation was an anomaly because you had SO many factors working against PS3...

1.) PS3 launched a full year after the 360.
2.) PS3 launched with 500.00 and 600.00 skus
3.) PS3 was a beast to program for, making cross-platform games perform worse than on 360.
4.) The crazy Wii fad took the world by storm.
5.) PS Network was way behind Live

And yet despite all these hurdles, the PS3 STILL managed to outsell the 360 year over year after it launched and eventually catch up to and surpass the 360 in total sales. Once you weigh all those factors into it, is it really any surprise that the PS4 has such a commanding lead over the X1 now that everything is on a more level playing field?

[Bolts]

Microsoft screwed up big this gen.

[Wickerman1972]

Sony fans should be thanking Don Mattrick. It's all his doing.

[WickedLester]

If you truly believe that, then you're not giving Sony nor the PlayStation brand it's due credit. Xbox is only relevant in 2 regions, the US and the UK. Everywhere else in the world, PlayStation is king. Last generation there were a LOT of factors that went into the 360 succeeding as well as it did. Now that MS doesn't have the luxury of those factors and it's on a more level playing field, they're getting dominated as they WOULD have last generation if Sony hadn't made so many miscalculations.

[HAC522]

yes, but 1.5 years in, it doesn't deserve it. sony dropped the ball with tons of stuff, and its because the ps community just mindlessly and sheepishly praises everything just because its playstation. the ps3 became the best console because we critiqued it from the beginning, it became everything and more from what they initially said 2 years after launch. i didn't expect the ps4 to be amazing day 1, but nearly reaching the 2 year mark, im happier with it. but not as happy as i was with the ps3 2 years down after its launch.