Sales of Microsoft’s (MSFT) new game console, the Xbox One, started strong with some 3 million sold around the world from its Nov. 22 launch to the new year. Since then, though, the consoles have piled up on store shelves. Researcher NPD Group estimates that Sony’s (SNE) PlayStation 4, introduced on Nov. 15, outsold the Xbox One in January by at least a 2-to-1 margin in the U.S. And on March 4, Sony announced that the PlayStation 4 has sold 6 million systems and 13.7 million games, including 2.1 million copies of Killzone: Shadow Fall, an exclusive to the PlayStation. Console makers that log big monthly sales typically report them; Microsoft hasn’t so far in 2014.
2:1
Estimated rate at which the PlayStation 4 outsold the Xbox One in January in the U.S.
Microsoft is betting it can sell more Xbox Ones on the strength of an online multiplayer game called Titanfall, which will be released only for its consoles on March 11. “It’s hard to overstate the importance of Titanfall to the Xbox One release this year,” says Yusuf Mehdi, chief marketing and strategy officer for Microsoft’s devices and studios. “For us, it’s a game changer. It’s a system seller.” Titanfall players climb into giant fighting robots to duke it out on a war-ravaged planet. Developed by Respawn Entertainment, a studio founded by veterans of the blockbuster Call of Duty franchise, it’s the “single-most anticipated game of 2014,” according to review aggregator Metacritic (CBS).
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