The PlayStation 4 is comfortable leading the hardware battle with the Xbox One, and according to Wedbush Morgan’s Michael Pachter, there’s nothing Microsoft can do at this point to close the gap on its lead rival.
Speaking in the latest Pachter Factor, the ubiquitous analyst was asked what the Xbox One format holder can do to catch up with the PS4. Pachter’s responded with a rather blunt, "Nothing." He then looked back at Xbox history, pointing to the fact the best-selling platform from Microsoft, the Xbox 360, has only managed to move half as much as Sony’s biggest-selling console, the PS2.
“We should start every console cycle assuming Sony’s going to outsell Microsoft 2 to 1, because they have twice as many people who know what their console is and like," said Pachter.
He went on to say that it’s "remarkable" how the Xbox One is managing to promote steady sales against the PS4 and not get completely overwhelmed by its rival. Regardless, he reckons the Xbox One is destined to fail in its attempts to top the PS4.
“My guess is Microsoft is gonna really try hard to win in the U.S. and they’re probably going to fail. They’re gonna hope to win globally and they’re pretty definitely gonna fail.”
Sony announced last month that the PS4 has sold 30.2 million units since its release in November 2013. Microsoft on the other hand has been keeping mum as to how many units the Xbox One has moved, and the last we heard was that the system had shipped 10 million across the globe. The PS4’s lead one the Xbox One hasn’t gone unnoticed by Microsoft either, with the company even admitting it may not be able to close the gap on its rival going forward.
Whether or not the PS4 can match the PS2’s mammoth 170 million sales during its lifetime remains to be seen, although in the U.K. at least, Sony’s current-generation console is currently tracking ahead of the PS2 in terms of sales. PS4 also topped Xbox One in the Black Friday sales battle, albeit only by a small margin.