2016 is done and finished, and gamers know what that means: time for the big video game companies to start stroking their egos over how great they were last year. Earlier this week, both Sony and Microsoft released their end-of-the-year press releases on how well they did last year, as well as teasing what’s to come in 2017, and it seems the battle for 2016 ended decidedly one-sided.
Sony’s press release was all big, awe-inspiring numbers, with the PlayStation 4 selling 6.2 million units worldwide during the holiday season alone, with total cumulative sales of the PS4 reaching 53.4 million units globally. Software sales for the PS4 also did very well, with 50.4 million games being sold during the 2016 holiday season. The biggest selling game was Naughty Dog’s very own Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, with that game alone selling more than 8.7 million copies worldwide.
Microsoft’s press release, on the other hand, was much less impressive. Instead of focusing on how many Xbox Ones or games were sold, the press release instead decides to focus on the 3.9 billion hours gamers spent on Xbox Live during November and December. As for software, Microsoft focused on the fact that the Xbox One had nearly 400 new games come out this year, including the critically-acclaimed Forza Horizon 3 and Gears of War 4. Though the press release does mention that Forza Horizon 3 was the “best-selling, highest-rated racing game in 2016,” it steers away from mentioning any real sales numbers for the game, or anything else. The press release mentions that the Xbox One S was one of the top-selling products during the holiday season, but so was the Fitbit and Hatchimals. Without any clear sales numbers, it becomes apparent that the Xbox One wasn’t anywhere close to the PS4.
As for console exclusives, the PlayStation 4 touts a very impressive list. Some very well known franchises are set to come out with titles for Sony’s console this year, including Gran Turismo Sport, Yakuza 0, MLB The Show 17, Persona 5, and the remastered Wipeout: Omega Collection and PaRappa the Rapper 20th Anniversary. Other games slated as PS4 exclusives for 2017 include the third-person shooter Drawn to Death, Quantic Dream’s thriller Detroit: Become Human, VR shooter Farpoint, the action-adventure Gravity Rush 2, Hot Shots Golf sequel Everybody’s Golf 7, sandbox game Dreams, action-platformer Knack 2, and action RPGs Nioh and Horizon Zero Dawn.
Meanwhile, the Xbox One’s list of upcoming games looks much shorter, with the only console exclusive titles being mentioned in their press release being Halo Wars 2, point-and-click adventure game Thimbleweed Park, and Fullbright’s little-known Tacoma. It looks like Microsoft should hope for a very successful launch with their Project Scorpio if they want to beat Sony this coming year.