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PS4 sells 160,000 more units than Xbox One in the UK

Sony's console is outselling the Xbox One so far in the UK. The lower price may have something to do with it.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
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Joe Svetlik
2 min read

The PS4 versus the Xbox One was billed as the biggest console war in history, and while it's still early days, it looks like Sony's games machine has pulled ahead. According to figures from the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA), the PS4 has sold 166,000 more units in the UK than the Xbox One. Should've put some money on it.

The PS4 has sold 530,000 units in the UK, compared to the Xbox One's still very respectable 364,000. The Xbox One is £80 more expensive than the PS4, which probably has a lot to do with the discrepancy in sales. 

Unsurprisingly, the best selling game of 2013 was Grand Theft Auto V, which sold 3.67 million copies.

Both consoles launched just before Christmas, which was too late to rescue the physical games market, which ended the year 2.9 per cent down on 2012. But sales of games overall in the UK were up 6.6 per cent in 2013. Video grew by 3.7 per cent, while music sales were down by 0.5 per cent.

Legal streaming services helped digital music, video and games sales to grow by huge amounts. The likes of iTunes, Netflix and Lovefilm helped digital video sales to grow a whopping 40.2 per cent. Music streaming, meanwhile, grew by 33.7 per cent, helped by Spotify, Deezer, et al. And games downloads (including mobile gaming) grew by 16.4 per cent.

Blu-ray sales were up 10 per cent, while vinyl sales grew by an astonishing 101 per cent.

Overall, the UK music, video and games market in 2013 was worth 4 per cent more than in 2012.

ERA director general Kim Bayley said digital had played a huge part in this turnaround. She said in a statement: "This is a stunning result after at least five years of decline. Retailers have invested hundreds of millions of pounds in new digital services and these numbers suggest the public is responding in their droves.

"New technologies have historically presented challenges to the entertainment business, but these results show how our members are helping music, video and games companies find new markets."

Did you buy a PS4 or Xbox One? Which do you prefer? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.