The PlayStation 4 may have jumped out to huge lead ahead of the Xbox One in the new-gen console sales race, but it's a gap that appears to be closing. Speaking at the UBS Global Technology Conference this week, Electronic Arts chief financial officer Blake Jorgensen suggested that the Xbox One — thanks to price cuts and great holiday bundles — is "catching up quickly" to the PS4.
"Clearly Sony has jumped out to a lead with a great console and I think a great pricing strategy, [but] Microsoft is catching up quickly," Jorgensen claimed (via Gamasutra).
"Pricing actions that are taking place, particularly during this Christmas season, driven by Microsoft, around reduction plus a lot of bundled software, I think will continue to pull the consumer into the new consoles," he added.
It's worth pointing out that this is only speculation by one of the lead third-party publishers. All we know for sure is what Sony and Microsoft tells us. As of September 30, 13.5 million PS4 units were shipped to retailers worldwide; 10 million units have been sold through to consumers as of August 12.
In comparison, Microsoft claimed in mid-November that Xbox One sales have been "skyrocketing" since the price cut earlier this month, with sales to retailers fast approaching ten million units. Yusuf Mehdi, Xbox VP of Marketing, claimed that the Xbox One was on pace to outsell the PS4 in the United States for November — a first for the console since both systems released last year.
Looking ahead, EA's Jorgensen estimates that the installed base for new-gen consoles (Xbox One and PS4 combined) will be "north of 25 million" following the holiday season.
I've been saying this since the launch of each system; this is going to be a long race. The PS4 definitely got off to a hot start thanks to some early flubs by Microsoft but, like the previous generation, a lot can happen in the next few years. Both platform holders need to be on top of the latest games and tech if they intend to outsell the competition.
