PS4 Doubles Xbox One Sales During First Quarter

Sony sold three million PlayStation 4 units during the financial quarter spanning April to June 2015, outperforming the 1.4 million Xbox One and Xbox 360 consoles sold during the same period.

The figures were provided in recent financial reports issued by both companies.

According to Sony's report, the performance of the PS4 and software sales for the console contributed a "significant" increase overall for the Game & Network Services division.

PS4 sales were listed as 3 million for the quarter, which is an increase from the 2.7 it sold during the same period in the previous financial year. The performance of the PlayStation Vita was noticeably absent from the reports.

Sony has said it expects to sell 16.5 million PS4 consoles during the financial year spanning April 2015 to March 2016. This is slightly higher then its previous forecast of 16 million.

Microsoft, meanwhile, revealed Xbox Platform revenue increased $86 million, which translates to a 10 percent growth. According to the company, this was driven by "higher volumes of consoles sold, offset in part by lower prices of Xbox Ones sold."

Microsoft said it moved 1.4 million consoles in the fourth quarter compared to the previous year's 1.1 million. It did not clarify the exact contribution Xbox One made to this figure, opting instead to combine sales of the console with its predecessor, the Xbox 360.

Total Xbox revenue showed a growth of 27 percent compared to the same period last year. This increase was attributed to console sales, Xbox Live transactions, and first party game sales.

Looking at the performance of each company as a whole, Sony reported revenue was $14.8 billion, with an operating income of $794 million. This is a year-on-year increase of a 38 percent. Microsoft's revenue, meanwhile, was $22.2 billion, down five percent year-over-year, which was in-part attributed to "an unfavourable foreign currency."

Xbox head Phil Spencer recently said he believes the surge in popularity of both devices shows the console business is still viable.

"And we’ve sold a ton of Xbox Ones globally, more than we’ve sold 360s [in the same period]. We’re both doing really well, and I think Nintendo has a plan for the future--I don’t know what the NX is, but it’s great just to see the business being done."