Early reports indicated that Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT) heavily discounted Xbox One was the top winner of America's biggest shopping week, the week of Black Friday. But in a twist, VGChartz declared that early reports of Sony Corp. (TYO:6758) getting outsold 2-to-1 were a bit off. VGChartz's U.S. console sales data paints a rather different picture, showing that the Black Friday week was a rather strong showing for the Sony's PlayStation 4, as well.

I. A Good Week for All

According to the research firm's data the week of Black Friday, which ended Nov. 29 saw...

721,569 Xbox Ones
554,350 PS4s

... sold in the U.S. Overall U.S. sales accounted for 94 and 95 percent of PS4 and Xbox One sales, respectively -- not surprising given all the Black Friday commotion.

VGChartz didn't break out U.S. sales numbers for other consoles, including Nintendo Comp., Ltd.'s (TYO:7974) embattled Wii U. But it did offer up numbers on North America sales. Assuming that they following a similar trend to the Xbox One and PS4 sales, that allows us to extrapolate the overall consoles sales for each console maker:


Microsoft:: ~917,200 total consoles
721,569 Xbox Ones
195,700 Xbox 360s

Sony:::::: ~690,400 total consoles
554,350 PS4s
101,100 PS3s
35,000 PS Vita handhelds

Nintendo:: ~581,800 total consoles
231,000 Wii Us
32,200 Wiis
318,600 3DS handhelds
By the look of it all three of the consolemakers, even Nintendo had a pretty good week of sales.

II. Records Set, Sony and Nintendo Discount Lightly, Sell Big

Microsoft's Xbox One set a record for most sales ever for a console in its is second Black Friday week (second year on the market). Last generation's console winner, the Nintendo Wii, sold only 383,499 units in the U.S. on its second Black Friday week in 2007. It would go on to set the all time Black Friday week sales record the next year in 2008, with 766,179 units sold.

As for the Sony PS4, it didn't set any sales records, but it did achieve a personal best. Sony's previous best U.S. Black Friday week was in 2009, when Sony sold 417,864 PS3s.


Looking at lifetime sales, the Xbox One still has a long ways to go if it hopes to catch Sony's PS4 which leads it nearly 2-to-1 in lifetime sales (with 16.1m PS4 consoles sold to date, versus 9.1m for the Xbox One). Microsoft only recently passed the Wii U, which has 7.9m sales thus far in its two years on the market.

Source: DailyTech