Microsoft said that it sold more than 3 million Xbox One units since it was launched Nov. 22, 2013.
According to The Associated Press, the figure means that about 1 million Xbox One consoles were sold between Dec. 11 and the end of 2013.
Sony has not yet given its year-end figures for the PlayStation 4, which launched about a week after the Xbox One.
The Microsoft figures released this week are for sales in 13 countries.
Microsoft said that the demand for the Xbox One has been strong since it was launched.
A report last week said that the PS4 has outsold the Xbox One in the United Kingdom by about 166,000 units.
“Games continues to deliver digital sales strongly, but it was disappointing that Xbox One and PS4 came so late in 2013 and then huge demand meant stock sold out quickly,” U.K.-based Entertainment Retailers Association director general Kim Bayley stated, according to Gamespot. “Retailers will be working hard in 2014 to maintain the sales momentum of these two great new pieces of kit.”
In the U.K., the PS4 generated more than £181.6 million in revenue while the Xbox One generated £144.5 million.
A month ago, there were reports that both the Xbox One and the PS4 sold about 2 million each.
Sony initially project that it would sell more than 3 million consoles by the end of 2013.
There have been other indicators suggesting that demand for the PS4 is higher in some places.
Last month, Baird analyst Colin Sebastian said that about 65,000 PS4s and 33,000 Xbox Ones were sold on eBay as of Dec. 23.
And Amazon said Dec. 26, during the holiday shopping rush, “the new Xbox One and PlayStation 4 gaming consoles were so popular that at the peak of sales for each console, customers bought more than 1,000 units per minute,” according to a press release from the retailer.
“Enjoy your holiday break with or without a PS4 or Xbox One. Be wary of unofficial sales reports (and especially anything sourced to a ‘market intelligence’ firm). It’s still anyone’s game. If you’re waiting for one system to surge ahead of the other, don’t expect January’s U.S. figures to hand you your mandate. If I had to guess, based on official sales to date, I’d wager it’ll be close,” reads a report from Time magazine’s Matt Peckham on Dec. 24.
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