That’s likely due to a combination of Lego Jurassic World and July being generally a very slow period for game sales.
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The end of an era is upon us.
Xbox head Phil Spencer has been hard at work making the Xbox One the best it can be since he was appointed to his position at Microsoft after Don mattrick left.
Sony can do no wrong in the United States it seems, as the PlayStation 4 was once again the best selling system in the all-important nation during July.
“All I can do is focus on Xbox, and I love that”.
While it’s debatable which firm was the most convincing in June 2015 at the E3, it’s an undeniable fact that Microsoft’s announcement of Backward Compatibility for the Xbox One was one of the biggest reveals of the event. “Consumers may have felt safer buying 360 games knowing that they will be able to play them on Xbox One if they choose to upgrade”.
However, the biggest factors in these presented Microsoft and Sony features is not actually limited to technicality; price has a huge say in determining which one is the more reasonable proposal for playing older games on newer/different hardware. This wasn’t down to the release of new software, however.
According to NPD Group, 21 months after launch, PS4 and Xbox One sales are “close to” 50% ahead of where PS3 and Xbox 360 sales were at the same time in their lifespan. This marks the third consecutive fall release season where Microsoft has launched at least three major Xbox One exclusives.
Finally this month, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that overall sales of all game-related items (hardware, software, and accessories) is roughly even with July 2014.
If comparing the amount of time the consoles have been on the market, we will find out that Xbox One and PS4 are massively outselling their last generation counterparts. Batman: Arkham Knight is in second, but would have charted first had console bundled copies been included in the sales totals.
Sony expects the momentum to continue into the fall as it preps yet another hardware bundle with Activision Blizzard’s space shooter Destiny, which releases a large update in September.
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“Xbox One and Xbox Live continued to see strong sales and engagement in July, with Xbox One sales in the U.S. up 44 percent over July 2014 and active global Xbox Live users (Xbox One and Xbox 360) up 22 percent”, said a spokesperson from Microsoft to IGN.
