With the passing of November 2014, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One celebrated their first birthdays, and the Wii U ambled across the two year mark.  And although not strictly consoles, let’s not forget about this era’s handhelds, with Nintendo’s 3DS hitting shelves back in the early part of 2011 and Sony’s PS Vita following roughly one year later, a full 9 months before the launch of the Wii U.  So what does the landscape look like going into the twilight of 2014?

The following figures represent sales as of November 29th, 2014.

Consoles

When it comes to the console market, the PS4 is maintaining a steady worldwide lead, with nearly as many units as the Wii U and XB1 combined – 16.1 million, or 48.6% of sales.  Microsoft is trailing at 9.1 million, and the Wii U comes in third with only 7.9 million units sold, despite it being around twice as long as its competitors.

However, if we break this down a little to see what’s happening specifically in North America, we see that the Xbox One has done well for itself, with sales of 759,655 during the week ending on 11/29, possibly attributed to the XB1’s new pricing.  Sony comes in second with 592,245 sold during the same period, but more than compensates with its remaining worldwide sales, totaling 601,101 vs Microsoft’s 356,335.  The Wii U’s total sales for the same week, worldwide?  A paltry 352,519.  In some ways this doesn’t come as a surprise; the PS4 and XB1 may have been aimed at 2013’s holiday season, but many gamers have waited to see just how these platforms have developed before making their decisions.  It’s also worth mentioning that the previous generation has continued going strong, and it wasn’t until a couple of months ago that we really started to hear about some of the more high profile 8th generation exclusives.

Handhelds

In a world filled with tablets, smartphones, and devices of varying size that are quickly bridging the gap between tablet and laptop, handhelds maybe seem a foregone conclusion.  But to those of us who play real games, we know that $0.99 cash-grabs will never be able to replace the true essence of handheld gaming.

And for now, at least, it seems the rest of the world agrees.  Global totals for 3DS sales are at a whopping 47.4 million, nearly 3 times that of the PS4 (respectfully, the 3DS has been around for over 3 ½ years now).  The week of the 29th alone saw 672,782 worldwide sales.  Not much surprise here, as the 3DS has become a hit with both kids and adults, and boasts one of the most public, well-known, and outright strongest libraries of any current system (possibly as the expense of Nintendo’s own Wii U).  It also helps that Nintendo has continuously offered the 3DS for sale in bundles with exclusive colors and popular games.

Despite the lack of attention (and shelf space) given to the PS Vita, it’s actually managed to pull ahead of both the Wii U and XB1 with a total 9.2 million units sold during its life of just over 2 ½ years.  This puts the device in third place when it comes to all major 8th generation units as a whole, which is honestly quite surprising since the Vita has hardly received any media or retail attention.

Games

Anyone who’s been around for a while knows that a battle of hardware ultimately boils down to the software.  Powerful machines like the 3DO and the Dreamcast have taught us that impressive performance can’t make up for a lack of strong game development.  So how are the games affecting these sales figures?

Well, it’s pretty hard to tell without comparing lots of sales figures from the past year or two, but we can combine speculation with some weekly sales figures:

Units sold in USA – Week Ending 11/29

1. Pokémon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire – 3DS – 530,655
2. Grand Theft Auto V – PS4 – 477,358
3. Assassin’s Creed Unity – XB1 – 380,850
4. Assassin’s Creed Black Flag – XB1 – 317,133
5. Super Smash Bros. Wii U – Wii U – 294,862
6. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare – 360 – 275,493
7. The Last of Us Remastered – PS4 – 244,245
8. Super Smash Bros. 3DS – 3DS – 197,121
9. Grand Theft Auto V – XB1 – 179,950
10. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare – XB1 – 169,250

Finally it would seem that the 8th generation has established itself, with only one 7th gen title popping up.  Microsoft is gaining ground, but they still have a long way to go to catch up with Sony.  Since neither system has offered up much in the way of exclusives (launch titles like Dead Rising 3 and Forza 5 for the XB1, and Knack and Killzone: Shadowfall for the PS4 failed to make much of a splash outside of early adopters), buyers have had to resort to other factors – real or perceived – when making their choices.  Clearly pointing towards the “better library” isn’t possible at this point with so many cross-platform releases.

Both companies have had problems distinguishing themselves.  Microsoft impressed scores of gamers with its announcement of Titanfall, but as reviews began to circulate, it was evident that the game couldn’t support the hype, and the company was dealt a sizable blow as they quietly let what many believed to be “the next Halo” slip into the background.  Sony hasn’t suffered such a public faux pas so far, but their lack of support for the PlayStation Camera and fuzzy details about PS Vita compatibility hasn’t gone unnoticed.

So without being able to weigh one list of exclusives against another, just how are gamers deciding which one to buy, why is the PS4 so far ahead, and why does the XB1 appear to be picking up steam in the US?

The biggest factor in all these questions is price.  The PS4 debuted $100 cheaper than its counterpart, albeit without the camera/motion sensor pre-bundled.  When it comes to two comparable systems with several overlapping games, it makes perfect sense to go with the lowest financial drain.  Online services come into play as well.  Sony’s decision to begin charging for online access wasn’t a popular one, but they’ve still kept their rates attractively cheaper than Microsoft – $17.99 for 3 months versus $24.99; $49.99 for 12 months versus $59.99.  The Xbox 360 helped to define multiplayer online gaming as we know it and remained the premier service for sometime, but Sony has steadily upped their features and functionality.  So again, when faced with two comparable options, which is the best?  The cheapest.

Just in time for Holiday Season 2014 though, Microsoft has made an effort to put their console into more and more homes.  Beginning several months ago, they began to offer the Xbox One packaged without the Kinect peripheral for a price equivalent to the PS4.  Recently, they’ve announced further temporary price drops as well as bundles including a game.  This has surely been enough to push gamers who were on the fence, but unfortunately, there are many more who had already chosen to go with Sony.

The other biggie, especially when it comes to early adopters, is the negative publicity that surrounded the Xbox One prior to its launch.  The memory of these embarrassing moments for Microsoft is beginning to fade in the public consciousness, though it undoubtedly led to an irretrievable loss of early interest in the console.  At one point, the console promised a number of “musts” and restrictions including required internet connectivity, the inability to share a physical disc across units, and the requirement that the Kinect be connected.  These were all later retracted, some only days before launch, though the Kinect issue remained strangely moot since the console was unavailable without Kinect at the time.  (I suppose the idea was that you didn’t have to hook up Kinect, even though you had to pay for it.)

I’m sure Microsoft had a good reason for all this bullshit, but to gamers it seemed petty, trite, and disgustingly corporate.  Sony mocked the claims by ingeniously showing normal gaming behavior, which was an instant hit with the public who quickly saw the PS4 as “the people’s choice.”  Microsoft may have shaken off the worst of it by now, though they stupidly gave way too many people a reason to play for the other team, even staunch supporters of the Xbox 360.

Wii U

So what about the Wii U?  Why is it lagging so far behind?  It’s tough to say why the successor to last generation’s clear winner is falling so far behind in sales, especially with a year-long head start.  The hardware is certainly behind its competitors, but it is more powerful than the Wii, it has more online functionality, and it has more options for control than the WiiMote that so many gamers despised.

It could be because Nintendo all but ignored their newest system until just recently, with only a handful of strong, first party titles being released.  Compared with the prolific output for the 3DS during 2013 and 2014, the Wii U was sorely lacking.  And without the uber frame rates and hyper-reality of current generation first person shooters and RPGs, Nintendo is forced to rely almost exclusively on their exclusives.  However, they may have hit their stride just in time for the holidays, and we could see a significant change in these numbers over the next couple of months.

Also hampering the Wii U’s success is the Wii’s success.  The original Wii attracted legions of non-video game players – middle-aged adults, retirement homes, younger children, workout studios, and everything in between.  The responsive motion controls were a watershed in the industry and became a phenomenon that the Wii U would never be able to duplicate.  Still, it’s possible that the Wii gained enough converts during its tenure to get some otherwise non-gamers interested in the Wii U as well.

2015

It’s great to look at these numbers just before the holidays really get underway.  With many strong releases across all platforms, it’ll be interesting see how (or if) the tides shift.  Nintendo’s future is looking especially bright with new releases in the Super Smash Bros. franchise for both the Wii U and 3DS.  Coupled with the likes of acclaimed titles like Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario 3D World, it could be enough to sway hesitant Nintendo fans and families eager for a “new toy” that both kids and parents can enjoy.  And let’s not forget about the recent introduction of Nintendo’s Amiibo, a format that has proved to be a runaway success with the likes of Skylanders and Disney’s Infinity.  Nintendo also has Sonic on their team, but after a slew of disappointing titles featuring the hedgehog culminating in the atrocious Sonic: The Lost World, it may take some time before gamers warm up to the new Sonic Boom series.

What’s on the horizon for Microsoft and Sony?  Halo 5 promises to revolutionize mutliplayer gaming on the XB1 front, while Sony fans will still remember all those glimpses of “Morpheus” back at E3.  The recent announcement of Street Fighter V as a PS4 exclusive will surely bump up sales of the console as well.  The holidays will be fun to watch, but the real fun starts in 2015 as the 7th generation consoles finally begin winding down their run and more gamers begin deciding which new system best suits them.

Just for comparison, let’s see how the 7th generation stacked up.  Nintendo was the clear winner; the Wii led console sales and the DS topped both handheld and overall sales of all 7th gen units.  The PS3 got off to a slow start but now just barely inches out the Xbox 360, and surprisingly, the PlayStation Portable kept up with both of them!  Will the 8th generation be a major upset?  When will we begin to see newer technologies?  Will another manufacturer ever break into the race?

Global Sales – 7th Generation Systems

• Wii – 101 million
• Xbox 360 – 83.9 million
• PlayStation 3 – 84.1 million
• Nintendo DS – 153.8 million
• PSP – 80.7 million

Let us know what you think in the comments section below!

*All numbers taken from VG Chartz.com and are current as of November 29th.

Written by The Cubist