At the beginning of its 2016 financial year, Microsoft stopped disclosing the sales data for the Xbox One and instead shifted its focus to the stats for the Xbox Live service. The Xbox One’s turbulent launch was compounded by the fact that we’ve never had any official data on how the console stacks up against Sony’s PS4. “Sony has eclipsed Microsoft in terms of console sales and installed base, selling more than twice as many Xbox in the previous generation,” Microsoft confesses, as translated from Portuguese. Documents (Word doc) given to Brazil’s national competition commission (discovered by Game Luster) finally shed light on how the Xbox One generation fared, confirming that Microsoft came in third, after Sony and Nintendo, as previously estimated by analysts. Sony has stopped reporting PS4 shipments, putting the lifetime sales total at 117.2 million as of March. Microsoft has not disclosed a definite sales figure for Xbox One, although its admittance suggests the corporation sold fewer than 58.5 million devices. Ampere Analysis predicts the Xbox One install base will be 51 million by Q2 2020. At its current rate of growth, Nintendo Switch will overtake the PS4 in lifetime sales sometime this year. While the Xbox One may not have been a commercial success, Microsoft’s efforts throughout the Xbox One generation did lay the framework for the Xbox Series S and Xbox One X. Because of testing these features on prior Xbox One consoles, Microsoft evolved into the Xbox Series X with 1440p compatibility, Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), and a slew of 120Hz games at launch.
