Analyst: PlayStation 4 Has Slight US Sales Advantage

Analysts at the premiere research firm Baird and Co. suggested that Sony’s PlayStation 4 has a slight advantage in the US sales, even with the supply constraints it suffered.

Still, it is way too early to call this a conclusive victory over Xbox One, according to Colin Sebastian, Senior Research Analyst of Internet & Interactive Entertainment:

Sony’s PS4 clearly bounced back from our mixed early-2013 supply chain checks, and appears to have a slight momentum edge among core gamers, as demonstrated by premium prices on eBay and persistent out-of-stock reports at retail

Sebastian also added that for third parties and retailers, a tight race for the top spot in the hardware sales charts would be highly beneficial:

A competitive ‘two horse’ console race would be positive for software publishers and retailers if Microsoft and Sony are forced to compete aggressively for market share

Finally, he said that GameStop will likely have to rely significantly on hardware sales in the first part of 2014, since they’re getting low margins of profit on used software and there will be a “light release schedule” .

I’m not sure I agree with Sebastian here, as the release schedule is pretty packed around March-April. Stay tuned to learn everything about the most interesting games coming in 2014 and beyond!