Xbox One beats PS4 sales at Walmart, Target.

InfoScout finds Microsoft systems take 61% share of console sales at retailers on Black Friday.

The Xbox One was the best-selling game hardware at Walmart and Target on Black Friday, according to retail research firm InfoScout. According to a post on the company blog, Microsoft’s new console accounted for 31 percent of console sales at the retailers on Friday, outpacing the PlayStation 4’s 15 percent share, which was only enough to make it the fourth best-selling system of the day.

The Xbox 360, bolstered by a $99 sale price at Walmart, was the second-best-seller of Black Friday, accounting for 30 percent of systems sold. The PS3, which was less heavily discounted at $149, was third with a 15 percent share of consoles sold. Nintendo brought up the rear, with the Wii U accounting for just 6 percent of sales, while the original Wii scraped out a 1 percent share.

InfoScout attributed much of the Xbox family’s success to supply constraints on the PS4 and the deeply discounted Xbox 360 price. According to a survey of Black Friday receipts from 5,000 InfoScout panelists, the Xbox One was the sixth best-selling item at Walmart, behind a trio of TVs, an HP laptop, and a $300 16GB Apple iPad Mini, which ordinarily sells for $320.

 

PS4 beats Xbox One to become UK’s fastest ever selling console

Sony’s console sold more than a million consoles during its US launch, and has now beaten records in the UK.

Sony has duplicated their successful launch of the PS4 in North America by becoming the UK’s fastest ever selling console.

The PS4’s sales figures have beaten both the PS3’s, the Xbox 360’s, and the previous record holder – Sony’s PSP. This handheld console managed to sell 185,000 units in the same time period during its 2005 release.

Most importantly for Sony though, the PS4 outsold the Xbox One, clearing more than 250,000 units within the first 48 hours of launch and easily beating the Xbox One’s sales of around 150,000 consoles in the same time period.

Industry news-site MCV reported the figures, also noting that this means both Microsoft and Sony’s consoles have sold more in two days than Nintendo’s Wii U has sold in a year since its launch in November 2012.

However, in the US the Xbox One may be taking the lead, becoming the best-selling console during the country’s annual Black Friday sales event. Analysts InfoScout reported that both the Xbox 360 and Xbox One outsold the PS3 and PS4, with Microsoft’s consoles collecting 61% of console sales on the day in comparison with Sony’s 30 per cent.

InfoScout also noted though that this may be due to limited availability for the PS4 in the US, as well as retail giant Walmart’s decision to discount the Xbox 360 to just $99.

In terms of games sold, Call of Duty: Ghosts seems to be convincing audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. InfoScout’s data showed the latest instalment in the CoD franchise easily outpacing the competition (though didn’t give specific numbers) whilst the UK’s all-platform top 10 also put Ghosts in the number one spot.

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Apple Buys Kinect maker PrimeSense

Deal reportedly worth $360 million

Apple has confirmed the acquisition of PrimeSense, the Israeli-based motion sensor company.

The business is best known for providing the sensors for Microsoft’s Kinect peripheral for the Xbox 360 although it did not contribute to the new Kinect model found in the recently released Xbox One.

The deal has been rumoured for some time, with some reports suggesting Apple paid  $360 million for the firm.

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” said a spokesperson.

Speaking to the BBC, Nitin Bhat of consultant firm Frost & Allen said Apple wants to bring its business up to date with current tech trends.

“Usage of gesture-based, touch-less control of devices is one of the big mega trends in the industry right now,” he said.

“From Apple’s perspective it looks like an attempt to make its current gadgets a lot more attractive by offering such a feature on them. It could also look to incorporate this technology in future portfolio of devices which could include an Apple TV.”

 

PS4 beating Xbox One on purchase interest worldwide

Interpret study finds Sony’s console leading even in territories where Xbox 360 comfortably beat PS3

In September, a US consumer poll found PlayStation 4 comfortably leading Xbox One when it came to purchase intent. Sony’s advantage on that front doesn’t appear to be limited to the US, as research firm Interpret today released results from its semi-annual GameByte study of gamers in key markets.

Interpret found that PS4 purchase interest led the Xbox One across the board. While Sony would be expected to outpace Microsoft in Japan and a number of European countries, Interpret pointed out that the PS4 drew more purchase interest even in places where the Xbox 360 was a clear winner in the current generation.

“Purchase interest at launch does not directly translate into long term success,” Interpret senior VP of research Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai told GamesIndustry International. “We all know what happened to the Wii, which had pretty low consumer purchase intent at launch. Many other factors will go into the long term success of a console including exclusives, perceived value, and increasingly the ‘network effect’ etc. However, these numbers provide a good indication of consumer interest at launch, a direct result of early marketing efforts and messaging effectiveness.”

Interpret’s study findings

Cai said that Sony’s clear messaging and showings at E3 and Gamescom have done well to build momentum for the PS4 worldwide, but the study’s findings suggest the battle to bring in new customers to the PlayStation and Xbox ecosystems will be less one-sided.

“When we looked at whether these potential purchasers own a current-gen equivalent, it’s interesting to see that in the US and UK, a larger percentage of PS4 intenders don’t own a PS3, but in all other markets, a larger percentage of Xbox One intenders don’t own the current-gen equivalent,” Cai said. “In other words, in the two strong Xbox markets, US and UK, PS4 seems to be better positioned to attract new PS buyers or convert Xbox owners and in other markets, Xbox One might attract more fresh blood.”

One more point of interest for Interpret was the next-gen consoles’ performance in less traditional markets like Russia and South Korea. Gamers in both countries expressed unexpectedly high interest in the PS4 and Xbox One. Some 31 percent of Korean gamers were interested in buying the PS4, with 26 percent interested in buying an Xbox One. Those numbers were the highest of any country except the United States, which saw 48 percent interest in PS4 and 42 percent in Xbox One.

 

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PlayStation 3 Tops Xbox 360 for the First Time in Nearly Three Years

Sony fans can finally celebrate a triumphant month in the United States, with the PlayStation 3 landing on top of the sales charts.

How would Microsoft PR  handle the Xbox 360 losing a month to the PlayStation 3?  Microsoft’s been sending out a sales report each month since 2011 that goes something like “Xbox 360 maintains its lead in the U.S. console market for the X month in a row…”

Not this time. For September, NPD reports the PlayStation 3 finally pulled ahead of the Xbox 360, thanks in part to a Grand Theft Auto V PS3 system bundle. Microsoft’s email chose instead to highlight an Xbox 360 sales milestone (passing 80 million units sold worldwide) and added that the system “maintained its lead as the number one selling console in the U.S. in 2013.”

Was the latter ever in doubt? The Xbox 360′s been ahead of the PlayStation 3 in North America by millions of units for years; the chances it was going to lose that lead were precisely zero. In any event, it’s testament to the Xbox 360′s appeal (in the U.S., anyway — Sony’s slightly ahead in worldwide console sales) that the console’s held that top sales spot (excluding games handhelds) for 32 months straight.

September was really Nintendo’s month, however: the 3DS outsold everything, hardware-wise, for the fifth consecutive month despite Grand Theft Auto V‘s arrival, and with Pokémon X & Y demolishing sales records, it’s probably safe to assume the 3DS is a lock for October.

What about the Wii U after that $50 price drop on the Deluxe model, which lowered the price to $300? Nintendo says sales of its beleaguered console increased “by more than 200 percent over sales in August,” adding that that’s with just two weeks of data being reported at the new price. NPD says the Wii U The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD bundle helped. October should be telling.

Last but not least, software juggernaut Grand Theft Auto V accounted for fully half of all gaming dollar sales in September, says NPD, and “had the highest first month sales than any other previous launch in the Grand Theft Auto franchise.”

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