Dallas, Texas 11/25/2013 (Financialstrend) – Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) reported that it had sold over 1m Xbox One video-game-consoles within the first day of its launch in 13 countries. This count exceeded 1st day sales for its predecessor, the Xbox 360 and also set a record for the company said Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) in a statement. The Xbox One hit the shelves in Austria, Canada, Australia, France, Ireland, Germany, and Spain. New Zealand, The U.S and the U.K. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) axed 8 other countries from this first list saying that it was facing production issues.
On 17th November, Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) said that it had sold over 1M PS4 consoles in North America over the 1st day of the launch. This topped the initial-sales for the PS3 in 2006. The Play Station 4 goes on sale on 29th November in 30 different countries across Europe and Latin America. Japan is next in line on 22nd February.
Time for a sales-battle
The two companies are on a definite warpath to gain the attention of hardcore gamers and have been trying to revive the console market that dipped by 32% to $13.3B from 2008 to the year 2012. Both the companies are offering their machines with the upgraded graphics & more entertainment-tie-ins. The Xbox One retails at $499, while the PS4 is retailing for $399.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)’s Xbox One’s Kinect camera is its USP and the company has been positioning it as a controller for all kinds of living-room entertainment. The company has focused its message on exclusive content and applications, including games like “Ryse: Son of Rome” & “Dead Rising 3,” as well as a live-action TV show by Steven Spielberg.
The projections
This week, the biggest video-game specialty retailer, GameStop Corp, said that 2.3M customers are on their waiting-list for new consoles from both the companies. After replenishing all the startup inventories, the analysts’ projection is that both Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) each will sell approximately 3M consoles globally by the year-end.
