There’s been some negativity surrounding the Xbox One recently. Between the debacle with it’s latest exclusive, Sea of Thieves, and the concern over its game lineup, it certainly hasn’t been the best period for the Xbox One PR-wise. With that being said, the Xbox One is actually enjoying a better start to 2018 compared to how the console started in 2017.
An NPD analyst left a comment on the video game forum ResetEra mentioning Xbox One’s performance in 2018 thus far:
“Xbox One has been the best performing console of the year so far in the US accounting for both sales and growth.”
TheXboxHub received an exclusive statement from Mat Piscatella (give him a follow @MatPiscatella for interesting stats and data relating to the gaming market) on how Microsoft’s console has fared so far in 2018:
“So far in 2018, the Xbox One is enjoying strong growth when compared to the same period in 2017. The recent launch of the Xbox One X, continued promotion of the Xbox One S and recent announcements around initiatives like Xbox Game Pass appear to be driving that year on year performance.”
Let’s dissect the information we’ve received here. Firstly, it’s pointed out that the Xbox One is enjoying strong growth as compared to how the console started in 2017. From this, we are told that the Xbox One is selling more at the start of 2018 compared to how much it sold in the same period of 2017.
Factors contributing to this growth versus the same period last year is put down to the Xbox One X and the continued promotion of the Xbox One S. The X is the most powerful console on the market currently and repeatedly outperforms Sony’s upgraded PS4, the PS4 Pro, so it’s no surprise the power of the Xbox One X is contributing to the growth in sales. The Xbox One S has featured many great, affordable bundles and it’s suggested these bundles have also contributed to this growth.
Lastly, features such as Game Pass do appear to be translating into increased sales for Microsoft’s console, at least, that’s the view of one NPD analyst. Game Pass is Microsoft’s exciting new initiative which allows games to enjoy a plethora of titles (including all new Microsoft published exclusives such as Sea of Thieves) for one small monthly fee. Overall, the contribution of this and the other factors aforementioned have all resulted in the Xbox One enjoying a better start to 2018 than it did in the start of 2017.
