Companies do “massage” some of their statistics from time to time, as it is a matter of presentation as well as interpretation. Having said that, when Microsoft has just announced that they have successfully sold more than 10 million Xbox One consoles, it is definitely a milestone to remember. Thankfully, Yusuf Mehdi, who is Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Marketing, Strategy and Business for the Xbox division, was upfront about the entire situation as he did mention that the 10 million Xbox One console sales were to retailers – and not to the end user.
Of course, this will be very different from the number of consumers who actually own the Xbox One, as Microsoft has remained mum on the number of actual consoles sold to consumers, since we are unable to tell just how many of them are left remaining on store shelves as well as in warehouses as opposed to the number in the living rooms of gamers everywhere.
As for Microsoft’s most bitter rival in this arena, Sony, they have announced in August this year that their PS4 has already passed the 10 million sales mark – and this was to consumers, so it would take some serious calculation to see just how much more the Xbox One has to experience a “sales spurt” as it plays catch up.
Mehdi did mention, however, that the Xbox One happens to be winning in its “fight” against the PS4 over in the US, having led “generation 8 console sales in the US for the past two weeks.” [Press Release]