In Brazil, Microsoft is trying to defend its Activision-Blizzard deal against the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), and as part of that ongoing legal case, court documents were shared, containing some interesting tidbits of information. Unlike Sony, Microsoft hasn’t been sharing official hardware sales numbers for quite some time, but the new court document now seemingly reveals what several analysts have been saying recently – Microsoft’s console sold less than half of Sony’s console since its global launch in 2013. The court documents were spotted by outlet Gameluster and roughly translated by a member of the outlet’s staff. “Sony has surpassed Microsoft in terms of console sales and installed base, having sold more than double the Xbox in the last generation”, page 18 of the official court document reads. While no exact numbers were shared, we know that, as of July 2021, Sony sold more than 116 million PlayStation 4 units since its launch in 2013. This would imply that Microsoft managed to sell ‘only’ around 58 million Xbox One units. Of course, “more than double” is a rather broad concept, but this number sits around what market research firm Ampere Analysis said back in 2020. According to Ampere Analysis data, at the end of Q2 2020, the installed base of PS4 (all versions) stood at 111 million, Xbox One (all versions) at 51 million, and Nintendo Switch (all versions) 57 million”, analyst Piers Harding-Rolls wrote. “Sony has built a formidable global brand in PlayStation over the last 25 years. While Microsoft will be more competitive next cycle, especially in the key battleground of continental Europe where the company lost ground during the Xbox One cycle, the PlayStation brand still resonates more strongly than Xbox outside of the US and UK markets where the situation is more balanced. This is unlikely to dramatically shift during the next cycle however strong Microsoft’s positioning is.” Selling around 58 million units of a console is by no means bad, but well below its predecessor – the Xbox 360, which sold more than 84 million units. For reference, Microsoft managed to sell around 24 million original Xbox consoles, and its Xbox Series X|S currently sits at around 12 million sold units since launching in 2020.
