Retailer suggests Sony is still edging the console race
Despite ditching Kinect and having been on the receiving end of a sizeable price cut, Microsoft’s Xbox One console continues to be outsold by Sony’s rival PS4, retail John Lewis has revealed.
With the Xbox One having been plagued by slow sales since launch last November, Microsoft recently kicked out the previously mandatory Kinect peripheral, lowing the console’s price to a PS4 matching £349 in the process.
Although this lower fee has brought the 360 follow-on closer to its lead rival, the PS4 is still edging sales figures.
“Yeah, we have [seen Xbox One sales increase since Microsoft cut out the mandatory Kinect],” Johnathan Marsh, Head of Buying for Electrics and Home Technology at John Lewis, said speaking with TrustedReviews.
He added: “Sales figures are now more competitive, but still favouring Sony.”
With the two consoles having originally hit retailers within a matter of weeks of each other, the Xbox One cost a full £80 more than the PS4 at launch. Although now identically priced, it appears that the damage could already have been done to the Microsoft console.
“We had this situation where Microsoft had, let’s call it an appropriate level of stock, where Sony was still very much hand-to-mouth as the demand very much outstripped the supply,” Marsh said discussing the state of the console wars prior to the Xbox One price cut.
“The move from Xbox was definitely in order to compete on a more level pegging with Sony and that has definitely resulted in a response from the consumer as well.”
Despite these narrowing sales, he added: “The demand for Sony is still greater than what we are seeing for Xbox One right now.”
With Microsoft having earlier this month stated that Xbox One sales have doubled since Kinect was dropped, Sony’s continued dominance shows just how large a gulf there was between the two consoles to start.
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