With both Xbox One S and PlayStation 4 slim out and about in the world, and sales data trickling in over the course of the coming weeks, we might start seeing a trend. The Xbox One S which helped Microsoft secure the September NPD, and dominated the UK sales cycle last week with over 1,000% sales growth over the PS4 slim which saw a massive 66% plummet during the same time. Did Microsoft, and their brilliant move with the Xbox One S secure the death of the PlayStation brand overall?
When Microsoft announced the Xbox One S, fans and enemies were surprised at how much Microsoft packed into the 40% smaller frame. The Xbox One S not only featured a super sleek design overhaul, but also a 4K Blu-ray player, 4K streaming and 4K upscaling on all games running on the Xbox One (forward compatible). Not only this, the Xbox One S also featured HDR gaming, which will blow your mind, and is according to Eurogamer more important than 4K gaming.
Counter to this, Sony announced both their PlayStation 4 slim and Pro versions during a keynote that would put any hardcore insomniac to sleep. Mark Cerny took the stage and discussed the features of their new offerings glossing over the fact that neither can play 4K Blu-rays; and in the case of the PlayStation 4 slim, not run games in fully featured HDR mode since 4K and HDR are currently bound together, making their ‘surprise announcement’ rather moot.
But this didn’t stop major publications from calling the Xbox One S dead on arrival, with reasoning that stated that because the Xbox One Scorpio–also known as Project Scorpio–was being launched a year later, that nobody should buy the Xbox One S regardless of the value it can bring to both gamers and media enthusiasts. This same reasoning did not apply to the PlayStation 4 slim, which launched a mere two months before the Pro.
But it seems that all pundits were wrong, and the Xbox One S have been selling like hotcakes. According to the latest numbers from the UK, it managed to outsell both the original and slim versions of the PlayStation to such an extent that it grabbed 71% of sales during the period measured. Not only this, but it’s possible that Xbox One will secure a second win during the NPD US release in the coming weeks.
It seems like Microsoft have done a pretty decent job in the past few years addressing concerns that gamers had with the previous Xbox One iteration. Not only did they offer full backward compatibility with over 250 authorized games including Call of Duty staples, but also gave us the cheapest 4K Blu-ray player on the market–something stand-alone Sony players can’t match–and gave us games. Games, being the most important of all.
On the side of Sony, they only offered a half-measure on both the slim and the Pro front, neither of which can match to the value of current and upcoming Xbox One offerings. Not to mention the countless delayed and rather disappointing gaming releases offered by the company.
It truly seems like Microsoft and the Xbox team have done what their fans wanted, and it’s paying dividends.
Dreyer was a regular ICXM contributor between 2016–2017, publishing 139 articles across opinion pieces, game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One X launch year and Microsoft’s wider Play Anywhere / UWP gaming initiative. They post on X as @dreyer_smit.