The PlayStation 4 is super hot right now, but is it riding on the coattails of last year’s hype?
Sony recently announced that the PlayStation 4 has officially sold 10 million units worldwide. It’s beyond what they expected and after losing its domineering foothold last generation, it appears to be the start of a great PlayStation revival.
However, why exactly has Sony’s new console sold so well? On the one hand, it’s obvious that the PS4 launch was leaps and bounds ahead of the horrid PS3 launch. Not only did the new system debut at a price point $200 below its predecessor, but it also – and most importantly – met demand. There were precious few PS3s available at the start of the previous generation and while Sony still couldn’t quite meet demand for the PS4, they had several million ready to go.
Those are all good things, and they definitely factored into the console’s success. That all being said, is it enough to fully explain such a stellar performance? Although Microsoft hasn’t released official sales figures for the Xbox One, it’s feasible that PS4 has outsold the new Xbox by nearly a 2:1 ratio. PS4 continues to win in the US, too, which is extremely significant, as the Xbox 360 dominated this region.
The PS4 is one hot item, but is it because of what it offers, or what it was purported to offer?
But when you step back and compare the two systems, the sales numbers seem to indicate a bigger gap than there really is. Both consoles appear to be quite reliable, as we haven’t heard much in way of hardware disaster stories for either side. Now that Xbox One has dropped to $399, both consoles are the same price (and Xbox One still couldn’t outsell the PS4 in the US, even after the price cut). Perhaps most notably, exclusives for both systems have been found lacking.
Right now, you can’t really say that one console “owns” the exclusive software race. In fact, one could argue that Titanfall is the best exclusive piece of next-gen software to date (going by its Metascore), and it’s on the Xbox One side. And yes, we’re aware the game is available on Xbox 360 and PC, but it was always marketed as being a true “next-gen” experience for consoles. inFamous: Second Son didn’t fare quite so well with critics, and most other exclusives for both systems were disappointments.
So, how is PS4 selling the way it is? Answer: Quite frankly, it appears to be selling based on last year’s accumulated positive hype, and Xbox One is still suffering from a lot of bad press in 2013. Based on all the evidence, there’s really no other way to explain it right now.