Sony may have advertised the PlayStation 4 aggressively during Black Friday in the UK, but it’s the deals that do the talking, and the manufacturer simply couldn’t compete with the Xbox One S All-Digital being flogged for an eye-opening £109. According to Games Industry, it’s Microsoft who won this year’s battle to the bottom in Britain, with the Redmond firm shifting over 100,000 consoles last week. It had a separate bundle for £129 which included three games.
The newer Nintendo Switch also did very well, of course, finishing not far behind the team in green. That leaves Sony who was a million miles behind, moving just 60,000 systems in total. The Japanese giant’s best deals included either FIFA 20 or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, but it was hard to find the PS4 priced less than £199. It would appear that the format holder’s favouring profit these days.
And that’s fine: the console still moved the most number of games by quite a distance. It is worth noting, though, that PS4 sales are now down 45 per cent year-over-year in the UK, which is steep. Obviously, a degree of drop-off is to be expected as the system ages, but Sony will be hoping to keep its current-gen console around long after the PlayStation 5 launches, and it’s going to have to drop the price at some point to ensure it remains an appealing product.
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 46
Doesn't everyone in the UK own a PS4 by now, anyways?
I am surprised that it wasn't Switch coming out on top - but I guess a £109 console or a £129 bundle is pretty cheap for the more powerful hardware if portability isn't something of interest.
@BarefootBowser 🎯
Absurdly good deal. I wouldn't take a digital only Xbox as a doorstop.
@BarefootBowser I am well aware.
I have Game Pass Ultimate until March 2021 and all I paid was the cool price of $50 for a 2 year Gold subscription which was converted to Game Pass Ultimate after getting 6 months of Game Pass Ultimate for free.
At least MS now know what price they can sell Scarlet for if they want to shift a decent amount of units.
I mean does it really mean anything in the bigger scheme of things? Unless they have sold 40 million odd consoles, then no it doesn't.
@GamingFan4Lyf I think the cheapest I saw the Switch was a Switch Lite for £169 instore at ASDA, otherwise I don't think it got anywhere below £199. £109 in comparison is pretty desirable I guess, although I despise an all digital future personally.
Thats because we've all got one 😂
So Microsoft were the real losers then if they had to drop prices so low to shift consoles 🤷♂️ The fact Sony haven't been forced to devalue their hardware to £109 tells its own story
The PS4 can't win everything all the time I am surprised anyone buys a Xbox ONE tho. Maybe it's just me but I find it a boring console with boring Exclusives(if you can really call them Exclusives)
Not really a battle is it?
£109 for the SAD is a price that's hard to ignore unless your like me and won't buy a digital only system
Its SAD though.
With Xbox all-digital, it makes a great case as a 2nd (or 3rd) console for those that have a PS4 (for all their main games) and/or Switch. Yes its not as powerful but with Game Pass, you don't have to buy games anyway and can just download any of the titles you missed - either exclusives or multi-platform games that you weren't sure enough to spend money on. For £109, that's not a bad option for anyone. I prefer to have a 4k HDR Bluray player and the option to buy Physical disc games BUT for someone who may be using it as a 2nd console, not looking to buy games on it and content to just play Game Pass (and maybe the free games on Gold) inc any of the 360 era games, its a great deal.
With 6yrs of selling the most consoles pretty much month after month (with a few exceptions), there can't be too many people that haven't yet bought one that wants one. Even the Pro may not be worth the 'upgrade' now with PS5 a year away - people making do with their PS4. Its not surprising that more software for PS4 was bought as it has the highest user base but that in itself maybe why it didn't do as well in the Black Friday console sales...
Well, I guess it's because everyone already owns a Playstation 4 system. I'd be picking up an Xbox or a Switch myself too, to be honest.
The xbox one s price is insane, coupled with 1 year gamepass and that's all you have to spend for 1 year of gaming, no wonder ps4 lose if the best price they can give to customer is £200. Sony choose profit rather than unit sales in this end of generations, I hope that profit can give us great spec and games for ps5
I bought my first PS4 in 2014 November for 300 euros. It had day 1 release of Far Cry 4, was bundled with GTA V next gen edition and also came in with 2 other games I could choose from for free. I took Infamous Second Son. All for 300 euros, brand new. Straight from Argos. 2014 November. Match this deal.
Did Nintendo and Microsoft pass PlayStation in sales.thats all thats matter.ps4 is sitting at more than 100 million.chilling like a villain.word up son
I bought an xbox over back friday all digital it was a no brainer. Game pass is insanely good value. Xbox know they are onto a winner with the gamespass. Selling cheap consoles now meaning they will gain sales when the next generation comes around make sense.
Yeah ummm.. everyone already has a PS4.
Cheapskates, missing out on what's good just to save some dosh.
I dont like all digital instead i bought a second PS4 slim. But there where no great deals in the Netherlands.
@Bamila
This time round it was cheaper in Ireland than the UK. This black Friday I got a PS4 pro with Death stranding, the Division 2, and an extra dual shock 4 in Argos (I picked the sunset orange dual shock 4) for €325. Over the moon.
People still buy XBOX one?? Talk about bad decisions LOL
I'm surprised people pay that much for a doorstop instead of an amazing bundle of games with the PS4 but I guess everyone already has those games and the console by now
Wow! £109 must be close to being the deal of the century, even if it's digital only.
Does anybody know if Xbox One exclusives bought through Live (or what it's called) can be played also on Games for Windows (or whatever that is called) for "free"?
Xbone S digital was going for 99.99 so not surprised. They’re almost giving it away! Still don’t want one though... Sony’s deals looked weak in comparison hardware-wise...
When the whole world's already bought a PS4 of course our shopper indulgence wants to buy something else.
I assumed MS were having to sell the digital only Xbox because they had a lot of them and no-one in their right mind was buying one?
Their advertising policy must've been something like "You too can have something with all the aesthetics of an 80s Betamax only this one won't play any of the cheap, 2nd hand game discs".
Actually, I think Sony didn't do any favours by not advertising the PS4 bundles as quickly as MS and Nintendo - I certainly didn't see any until much later into the Black Friday week. I mean, the Switch has been constantly on TV over every advert break. Still, didn't stop the non-switcher being sold for £180 (think it was the nasty turquoise one...)
Why are we still fighting battles, when the war was won about 5 years ago?
I thought this might be because most UK gamers probably have a PS4 already, I picked up an Xbox one x in the sale for the few exclusives which I'm quite pleased with. I ended up buying the sunset orange dual shock 4 too though! I thought it was out of print then all of a sudden Argos are selling it for 35 notes!
You could get a PS4 slim with Uncharted 4, Last of Us Remastered and Ratchet and Clank for £180 three years ago during BF. That’s a just launched machine and three very recent games. To get new people on board in 2019, they need to go cheaper to hit a new level of consumer.
The all digital Xbox deals were crazy. You could get a console and game for £85 direct from the MS store in Germany.
Here in the states I couldn't find a PS4 for the $199. Was told stores were to only sell a small limited amount as I think my walmart had 25 for black Friday but tons of PS4 for $299 in cabinets. It's like Sony rather force many of us to pay more up till PS5.
I thought about the SAD and Game pass ultimate or what ever its called and just do the free games. I did buy 5 PS games all under $20. Really don't have the time for a second system.
@BarefootBowser
MS also practically gives Gamepass away. I got 3 months for $2. It'd be insane not to sign up. I wish some third party games were on the service a bit quicker but at the moment still easily the best value of any of the services from the big 3.
@AFCC If it's only 100 bucks and you have no other console, it's a decent purchase.
@Ps4_all_the_way I almost bought PS VR mega bundle for 230 euros this black friday. It had 5 games and VR headset with camera. However I checked on those PS wands and they cost like 80 euros.. I consider it too be too expensive for them. Also I did some deep research and not only it contains lots of cables, but it also tends to overheat. The Processing unit. Also they probably will be releasing much better VR unit not that long after PS5 release.
But people bought vr headset too. Also it's not a million miles behind
irrelevante.
I’m not expecting PS4 to win anything anymore. Everyone I know already has one. And everyone that everyone I know also has one lol.
@Carl-G my thoughts on the xbox exactly. I've had a couple including an X and every time after the initial novelty wears off I'm left feeling exactly the same. I'd never buy another Microsoft console.
@Gamer83 For that money i would think a developer would be crazy to get in? Why devalue your games in such a way? What kind of money do they get out of it? It sounds like a lose lose for the developer.
@Bamila for 100 more you have a system that has good exclusives and all the other games that XBOX has (3rd party). Xbox one exclusives were seriously lacking all generation long
@Flaming_Kaiser
Which is most likely why third parties aren't on it too often day one. Games will go on there but it takes a few months.
@Bamila
I kinda feel the same about psvr. I've never tried it but I did read about the wires. I can't help but feel that in a couple of generations, this generation of vr will be looked at the same way we look at PS1 technology. It'll be viewed as pretty basic.
Most people already own a PS4, so it's not really a loss.
I got an Xbox One S because the price was too good to pass up, especially with Gamepass.
@Gamer83 Thanks for the info. 😃👍
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