Last week, the Xbox One thoroughly trounced the PS4 in the UK, with sales of the Xbox One family being more than the PS4 family by factor of 3:1 in the country. The great success of the Xbox One was attributed chiefly to the Xbox One S’s spectacular launch, and the less than stellar commercial performance of the PS4.
This week, Sony has managed to bounce back, thanks to the PS4 being sold at pittance prices all throughout UK last week. Last week retailers slashed the price of 500GB and 1TB PS4 consoles, bundling them with FIFA 17 or LEGO Star Wars for as little as £149, presumably, to clear out old inventory, and make space for PS4 Pro, PS4 Slim, and PSVR. Overall, PS4 sales rose by 384% last week, and were 55% higher than Xbox One sales.
However, and this is important- Xbox One S sales dropped only 16% this week, meaning that Microsoft’s console is holding steady, and likely would have posted a victory again, had it not been for the PS4 firesale. This fact is especially significant, because Xbox One S was being sold at very cheap price the prior week, bundled with FIFA, whereas it returned to standard pricing this week.
Sales of the Xbox One S are still higher than sales of the PS4 Slim, by 24% (although in fairness, no one in their right mind would have picked up a PS4 Slim last week next to the obscenely cheap standard PS4). With both systems being on even footing this week, it’ll be interesting to see which one comes in first in next week’s report.