Sony appears to win the first leg of the next gen console tournament-- the Interpret Gamebyte study reports the PlayStation 4 leads in purchase intention across the major European markets.
According to the analyst PS4 interest of purchase (including pre-orders) over the next 12 months ranks at 31% in the UK, 25% in France and 28% in Germany. In comparison Xbox One purchase interest lies at 24% in the UK, 17% in Germany and 18% in France, denoting a "comfortable lead" for Sony.
The rest of the globe follows the same pattern, including Russia (27% PS4, 24% XBox One), Korea (31% PS4, 36% XBox One) and even Microsoft's home US (48% PS4, 42% XBox One).
"Sony’s clear messaging and early tradeshow successes continue to carry momentum,” Interpret says. “However, when we look outside of the US and UK, the Xbox One actually has a slight edge at attracting buyers who don’t belong to the Xbox ecosystem during the current generation-- in other words a larger percentage of people intending to buy the Xbox One do not already own an Xbox 360.”
In the meantime Sony appears pleased with early PS4 results-- the first 24 hours following the 15 November N. American PS4 launch saw sales reaching 1 million units, and the company expects equally strong European sales once the console launches on 29 November.
Still, the Xbox One might steal some of the PS4's European thunder, since it hits our territories a week earlier on 22 November. The Microsoft take on the gaming black box (the one looking like a VHS without the slanty bit) carries a higher price tag, since the package also includes the slightly sinister Kinect 2.0 unit.
Either way Sony needs all the good news it can get, since it is back in the red with Q2 2013 net losses reaching $197 million. The company hopes global PS4 sales will reach 5m units by March 2013, thus offsetting ailing CE sales and film division results.
Go PS4 Lead in Next-Gen Purchase Intention Globally (Interpret)
Go PS4 Sales Surpass 1 Million Units in N. America in 24 Hours
