The holiday rush is almost here, and as you might expect, the Xbox One X and the PS4 Pro are set to be at the forefront of it all. With both consoles established as the most powerful of their respective brands, it's no surprise that early market predictions have those two set to be the most sought-after consoles this holiday season. Financial market analyst IDC predicts that the PS4 Pro and the Xbox One X will be neck-in-neck during the holiday season, making up 22.2% and 21.6% of the market respectively, while the Nintendo Switch pops in 3rd with 13.6%.
Here's the full data via WCCFTech:
What the data shows is that Microsoft's Xbox One X will effectively rebalance a market that Sony has dominated for quite some time. IDC analyst Lewis Ward said as much:
“The takeaway [from our research] is that Microsoft’s gamble is going to pay off. [The Xbox One X] does appear to stabilize the slide that Microsoft has been on, which I think is a positive step. It looks like, in North America, that the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X will be neck-and-neck in sales for at least the next six months or so and if that happens, you have to say that’s a win for Microsoft.”
Xbox One X pre-orders have been very strong across the board, with mega-retailer Amazon reporting the rate has outpaced that of the PS4 Pro's. The Nintendo Switch meanwhile has also had a solid opening year, outselling both PlayStation and Xbox in March and April, though questions remain about its availability on store shelves, which could play a significant role in how much of the market they take.
The Xbox One X releases next month on November 7th.
