Home Gaming Sony responsible for half the worldwide console market?

Sony responsible for half the worldwide console market?

2 min read
22

PS4 console war

It is obvious the that PS4 is selling well. It’s dominating in Europe and around the world. That’s not to say that the Xbox One is doing poorly, just that the PS4 is doing better in terms of console sales figures. But just how much of the market is owned by PS4, and how does that relate to actual game sales for publishers?

Ars Technica has done some impressive work estimating and breaking down sales figures for the three newest consoles. Of course we need to start with the usual disclaimer about sales vs shipments – some companies talk about sales to the consumers while others talk about consoles hitting store shelves. However, most units shipped to stores by the end of June will have been cleared off the shelves as apparently stock generally moves within 4-6 weeks (according to the article, we can still debate this). Thus, the numbers are used interchangeably using figures provided up until June. Additional disclaimer – Xbox doesn’t give sales figures for the Xbox One vs the Xbox 360, only for the brand as a whole. As a result, the numbers are estimated and might not be 100% accurate.

Console wars q2 2015 new

Of course it’s important to keep in mind that the PS4 is closer to 70% or even 90% in Europe, so the fact that Xbox can make up those numbers with the American markets alone shows that they can’t be performing that badly. Still, to see such a clear winner in the console war thus far is quite something. However, it’s not just about who can sell the most units, it’s about how that impacts the actual game publishers. Most publishers don’t report on the earnings per platform, but Ubisoft isn’t most publishers, and their numbers give some interesting insight.

Console wars q2 15

Unlike last generation, where PS3 and Xbox 360 were fairly equal in the amount of business they brought for Ubisoft, the PS4 is bringing in about two-thirds more cash for the company. That’s not to say that the Xbox One isn’t important, but it makes sense why more publishers are opting to use the PS4 as lead console for titles instead of Xbox One. While we may see some shifts with this thanks to backwards compatibility and an improved eco-system with Windows 10, that may take some time to convert to actual sales.

Ubisoft might just be a unique example; other publishers might have different splits across consoles. However, it is intriguing to see these kinds of numbers and realize that the impact of sales figures can change publisher perceptions of what’s worth their time and effort.

While I doubt that we will ever see the Xbox One reach the same level as the Wii U where third-party publishers simply stop porting to the console, these kinds of sales figures certainly will impact on relationships with publishers. It makes a lot of sense why Activision jumped ship with Call of Duty, with that many more PS4s in the wild, of course their top-selling franchise will do best there.

Last Updated: July 31, 2015

22 Comments

  1. Guild

    July 31, 2015 at 12:12

    Damn, XBox is far behind.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ Fantasticus

      July 31, 2015 at 12:13

      That’s because it needs to drag that external power supply along with it.

      Reply

      • Mabenito

        July 31, 2015 at 12:13

        : D

        Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        July 31, 2015 at 12:21

        Bwhahahahaha!

        Reply

      • HvR

        July 31, 2015 at 12:26

        LOL

        MS marketing should put a positive spin on it and release charts based on “tonnage sold”

        Reply

        • Aries

          July 31, 2015 at 12:27

          LMK

          Reply

        • Alien Emperor Trevor

          July 31, 2015 at 12:33

          Something about being in a superior position to meet customer demand.

          Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      July 31, 2015 at 12:14

      YAY! So we may see Rise of the Tomb Raider on PS4 in January!

      Reply

      • oVg Up for a game of Gwent?

        July 31, 2015 at 12:51

        2017, no, seriously.

        Reply

  2. Hammersteyn

    July 31, 2015 at 12:21

    GO WIIU!

    Reply

    • David

      July 31, 2015 at 12:44

      They did… to PS4 it seems.

      XBOX share hasn’t changed too much, 27-29 – it’s the WiiU’s changes that have gone to PS4.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        July 31, 2015 at 12:54

        It had the perfect start though 😛

        Reply

    • David

      July 31, 2015 at 12:44

      They did… to PS4 it seems.

      XBOX share hasn’t changed too much, 27-29 – it’s the WiiU’s changes that have gone to PS4.

      Reply

  3. Aries

    July 31, 2015 at 12:26

    Those Tomb Raider devs must be crying themselves to sleep these days

    Reply

    • oVg Up for a game of Gwent?

      July 31, 2015 at 12:49

      I would if my Producer was called Square enix. So old school.

      Reply

      • Aries

        July 31, 2015 at 13:28

        Yep and but Sony have better studio’s that make games for them, things could be so different if everyone just shared the glory

        Reply

  4. Ranting Raptor

    July 31, 2015 at 12:32

    wow…

    Reply

  5. oVg Up for a game of Gwent?

    July 31, 2015 at 12:53

    No surprise. Even Patcher predicted those figures the day after the Bone reveal while I was chanting FOUR TO ONE and I never even owned a Playstation.

    Reply

  6. Dawid Eduard Roestorf

    July 31, 2015 at 13:50

    This does not mean that X1 is not as good as the PS4. Just means that Sony’s marketing team got it right.

    That, and of course, MS went all TV TV TV TV SPORT TV SPORT TV TV TV gaming TV TV TV TV

    where the TV only really works in the USA, nowhere else in the world.

    Reply

  7. kevin mole

    July 31, 2015 at 15:57

    Sony does not need tomb raider anyway it is selling in the bucket load a million a month its a money spinner .

    Reply

  8. Zoe Butcher

    July 31, 2015 at 23:03

    Sony is completely and utterly crushing the competition! This console war is practically over. Sony won. The XBone will end up more or less with the exact same fate as the Sega Saturn. Microflop lost. Hasbintendo lost and has even abandoned their own Pii U console along with most third party game developers in favor of their new console the NX. Sony has embarrassed and shamed the other console manufacturers. loooooooooooool! =^_^=

    Reply

  9. Pedro Santana

    August 3, 2015 at 07:00

    That’s impresive from sony

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Xbox Series X Restock Update Today: Track on Twitter, Walmart, Best Buy and More

New consoles are on the horizon, and while Sony and Microsoft have spoken plenty about wha…