HiGame

Huzzah, old chap! A report has surfaced showing that Sony has sold over two million PS4s in the UK. Moving that many units in less than 18 months in a nation of 64 million people is impressive. And considering that the UK was one of the few European bastions for the Xbox 360 last generation, this is a non-trivial indicator of which way the wind is blowing.

In an interview with MCV, Sony’s Fergal Gara seemed ecstatic regarding the level of success. He even goes so far as to boast that the PS4 is “installing faster even than the PlayStation 2.” Even so, Nintendo’s Wii likely remains king of rapid adoption in the United Kingdom.


The European gaming market is distinct from the US in a few major ways — most important of which is its history with consoles. For example, Sega played a bigger role in Europe than it did in the US, so the Dreamcast implosion left a bigger impact.
After Sega left the hardware market, the UK ended up mostly backing the GameCube and Xbox. So while the PS2 was an unqualified success in the UK (and Europe in general), the adoption rate probably would have been even faster if the ghost of Sonic the Hedgehog wasn’t looming over the sixth-generation consoles.

While the PS4 is — without question — selling well in the UK, the comparison with PS2 adoption rates holds relatively little value. It says more about the vastly different market realities than it does about the PS4’s status as a juggernaut. Just like the Wii’s incredible success and eventual fizzling, it’s difficult to draw conclusions about the long-term health of a platform by comparing it with past releases.

I believe the only comparison that matters at this point is how well the PS4 is selling compared with the Xbox One. Microsoft’s console launched strong in the UK, and the 360 was dominant in the UK during the previous generation, in spite of the PS3 performing better in continental Europe. Unfortunately, we don’t have exact apple-to-apples numbers to compare here. However, VGChartz is estimating that only 3.14 million Xbox Ones have been sold throughout all of Europe. The PS4? 8.25 million. Those definitely aren’t firm numbers, but it’s safe to assume that the Xbox One is not keeping pace with the PS4 in jolly old England (and its sister countries).


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