Ed Fries led the team that created Microsoft’s first gaming console, and he told the Puget Sound Business Journal that the Playstation 4 has won the eighth generation console war “by a nose.”
The former Microsoft executive also commented that the console war is winding down with Sony in the lead by millions of units, according to ArsTechnica. The Xbox One’s sales last holiday season spiked thanks to a dramatic price cut.
The Playstation 4 has shipped an estimated 22.3 million units while the Xbox One is sitting around 12.46 million. Even in just the first quarter of 2015, the Playstation 4 has outsold the Xbox One by an estimated double: 2.4 million to Microsoft’s 1.12 million.
Sony’s success has been at least partly attributed to their popularity with the hardcore gaming crowd. Conversely, the Xbox One’s release was hampered by Microsoft’s decision to market their console as a flexible, all-in-one home entertainment system rather than a dedicated gaming platform.
Fries seems optimistic about his former employer, but ultimately hands the crown to the Playstation 4:
“It looks to me like most of the excitement is kind of over in the console war for this generation. It looks like Microsoft is gaining a little traction back, but PS4 got a really early lead that will be hard for Microsoft to catch.”
Indeed, Sony is still running with that initial surge of momentum that capitalized on a strong reveal and Microsoft’s weak press conference in 2013. It seems that the Xbox One has not only lost the battle, but the war too.