The beginning of the new year means looking back at the trends that made the previous year. Being on of the biggest retailers, Amazon´s list of 2016 best sellers is a good indicator of what has been hot in the last year.
Looking at how the Xbox One did vs. Sony´s PlayStation 4 is particularly interesting since Microsoft stopped reporting Xbox sales in 2015. According to Amazons stats, Sony´s console achieved higher sales than that of Xbox in three key categories – consoles, accessories, and games.
Three PlayStation consoles topped the best selling console list, with Microsoft's Xbox One having the last two spots out of the top 5. Sony's PlayStation 4 Slim is Amazon's top-selling games console for 2016.
The top 5 out of 10 items are also Playstation related in the accessories list. Various PlayStation Store Gift Cards were the most sought after items in that category.
The games list shows a similar picture with PlayStation games featuring 12 times on the top 20 list. Final Fantasy XV and Uncharted 4 are the best-ranked PS4 games, behind Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon for 3DS.
Here are Amazon's sales rankings for consoles, accessories, and games:
Consoles
- PS4 Slim 500GB Uncharted 4 Bundle
- PS4 500GB Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Bundle
- PS4 Pro 1TB
- Xbox One S 500GB Battlefield 1 Bundle
- Xbox One S 500GB Minecraft Bundle
Accessories
- $20 PlayStation Store Gift Card
- $10 PlayStation Store Gift Card
- $50 PlayStation Store Gift Card
- 1-Year PlayStation Plus Membership
- $60 PlayStation Store Gift Card
- Xbox $10 Gift Card
- $100 PlayStation Store Gift Card
- Xbox One Wireless Controller
- Nintendo 3DS AC Adapter
- 3-Month PlayStation Plus Membership
Games
- Pokemon Sun (3DS)
- Pokemon Moon (3DS)
- Final Fantasy XV (PS4)
- Uncharted 4 (PS4)
- Madden NFL 17 (Xbox One)
- Madden NFL 17 (PS4)
- Skyrim Special Edition (PS4)
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Legacy Edition (PS4)
- FIFA 17 (PS4)
- The Division (PS4)
- Battlefield 1 (Xbox One)
- Skyrim Special Edition (Xbox One)
- Battlefield 1 (PS4)
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Legacy Edition (Xbox One)
- Grand Theft Auto V (PS4)
- No Man's Sky (PS4)
- The Division (Xbox One)
- The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD (Wii U)
- Overwatch (PS4)
- Doom (PS4)
Waiting for Project Scorpio
The three lists show a clear trend present throughout the better part of the year. Sony's console received higher sales than that of Microsoft's on Amazon. Despite a few of Xbox's victory's in the several past months, PlayStation 4 is the overall victor regarding sales.
However, Microsoft is putting a lot of hope into its next-gen console, currently known under its codename Project Scorpio. The company is promoting it as the most powerful home console ever built. Project Scorpio is expected to launch during Holiday Season 2017.
The console will have native 4K support with games made for it natively rendering at 4K. Furthermore, Microsoft says it will offer a good 4K experience, even for users without the bandwidth to stream 4K content. The device will have a premium build and as a result will likely cost somewhere between $450 and $500.
Project Scorpio certainly has the potential to reverse last year's trend. Consequently, we'll just have to wait and see if it will become a true powerhouse of a console.
