Xbox One sales have hit 41 million units worldwide, which is less than half of PS4's number. Despite its massive global popularity, Xbox still struggles holding a candle to PlayStation's success.

The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One have been the two main competing systems throughout the current console generation, as it quickly became apparent that the Nintendo Wii U wasn't attracting an audience. The Xbox One quickly lost the lead at launch, due to some anti-consumer choices involving the system needing to be connected to the Internet once a day at the risk of games not working, as well as some severe trading and selling limitations. The PlayStation 4 was also $100 cheaper at launch and has continued to grow its audience with a stellar lineup of exclusive titles, whereas most of the Xbox One games have also ended up on PC, which has limited the appeal of the system.

The Xbox One is currently sitting at 41 million global hardware sales, according to Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad (via: Resetera). While this is certainly an impressive number, it's roughly half the number of PlayStation 4 systems that have been sold to date, with sales up to 91.6 million, according to GameIndustry.biz. Sony helped widen the gap over 2018 with the release of games like God of War, Spider-Man, and Red Dead Redemption 2.


Microsoft also has to watch out for Nintendo, who had a projected goal of 20 million consoles to be sold throughout 2018. The impressive sales numbers of games like Pokémon: Let's Go Pikachu, Pokemon: Let's Go Eevee, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate suggest that Nintendo may have hit that number already, which would put them at the halfway point of the Xbox One's lifetime sales in the space of two years. The Nintendo Switch is already the fastest-selling console of this generation, which is surely a blow to Microsoft.

Gamers shouldn't be planning a funeral for the Xbox brand just yet, as it's clear that Microsoft has a lot of big things planned for their next system. Microsoft has been eagerly acquiring more studios, which seems to be part of a plan to create their own line-up of exclusive titles that can match those of Nintendo and Sony. Microsoft has also supported a lot of pro-consumer choices that their competitors have ignored, such as backward compatibility, not charging for cloud saves, and the Xbox Game Pass, which is offering some of the best value for money in the industry, which Microsoft wants to improve on with their next service.

Microsoft has spent a lot of time in second place, and they have had a lot of time to learn from their mistakes, as well as those made by their competitors. It's clear that Microsoft has some big plans for their next move, and the successor to the Xbox One is shaping up to steal the spotlight in the next console generation.