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As we've known for some time now, Microsoft no longer publicly shares Xbox One sales figures. Meanwhile, Sony's been more than happy to spread word of the PlayStation 4's success on numerous occasions, with the company's most recent statement claiming that the current-gen console has moved close to 80 million units.

It's always been clear that the Xbox One is lagging behind its direct competition, with estimations putting Microsoft's console below half of what the PS4 has sold -- and now it's looking like those estimations have been fairly accurate.

According to fresh data from mega publisher EA, Xbox One sales sat around the 30 million mark by the end of 2017. Going by this information, it's reasonably safe to assume that the PS4 is ahead by a substantial 50 million or so units. That's the kind of gap that's unlikely be closed within an entire generation -- nevermind the last few years of one.

Of course, this apparent gap in console sales doesn't tell the whole story -- both Sony and Microsoft make profit in countless different ways. Still, this generation has proven to be quite the role reversal. It's easy to forget that not too long ago, the PS3 was playing catch up with the Xbox 360 following Sony's decidedly poor launch.

Interestingly, Microsoft has since stated that EA's data is inaccurate, but the company is yet to produce any of its own figures. As such, we have no way of knowing just how inaccurate the data supposedly is. Based on what we know, though, we're going to assume that EA's information isn't too far removed from the truth.

[source variety.com]