I think it has a bit to do with history

PS and PS2 were huge successes.

Last gen, Sony messed up a bit with the launch of the PS3 and Microsoft capitalized and won over North America with the 360.

I think the roles were a little reversed this time. MS launched the more expensive console which included Kinect. I think they realized they lost the HD format battles by not including HD-DVD in every console and making it an optional add-on, so they forced Kinect on everyone.

This gave core gamers and first adopters the impression that they were not focused on gaming. Also, the system has a little less power than the PS4. On the other hand, Sony wised up and started using x86 architecture so that developers could hit the ground running.

In the end, I hope both companies succeed. It is really what is best for the consumer. Both companies have shown arrogance at times and healthy competition is needed. Just look at what happened to NFL football once EA received the exclusive contract.

On a side note, it really is a shame that HD-DVD did not win the format wars. It was a much better format. The HD-DVDs that I have offer a lot more cool features than Blu-Ray and are far less buggy.

Strong finish by the PS3.

Great pricing / value by the PS4.

Mistakes by competition.

Sony has the most loyal fanbase and would have won last gen if it werent for the Wii becoming a fad.

lol what!?

Because it's the most powerful console. I'll never know from where people pulled that it didn't matter.

Name (Playstation - especially in europe!), Marketing and being at the right place at the right time.
Its more because of mistakes of MS and Nintendo than because of the things sony did right.
And now the stone started rolling and will not stop again.

Of course it has also a bit to do with the power - lot of people "see" huge differences between 900p and 720p or 1080p and 900p and such stuff. (lets wait for 1337p² ^^ - that should show how I think about these discussions...)

If everything was only about the currently available games (not even to say exclusives), things would look different. So i completely agree with KLXVER - "[...]but game wise its probably the weakest of the three atm..."

Being at the right place at the right time ... You don't have to be really good, your competition just has to be worse. You are not always winnig by making the most thing right, but sometimes even just by making the least things wrong ;)

And another important factor just coming to my mind - 3rd parties would never never never ever drop sony and let them down - no matter what sony does.

I don't want to say Sony did not a good job with PS4 (even though i do not own this console and probably never will do, as I am not their - and the 3rds - audience), but not as good as the sales numbers week after week after week tell the story.

The console with the most power doesn't make it win. It's the console with the most value for when you buy it.

Competition shat the bed.

Nintendo made a console which confused people and badly misread the target audience's taste in games. Nintendo's major titles for the first year were Mario and Pikmin, which attracted little interest in older gamers.

Microsoft had an ill-conceived DRM program and forcibly attached the Kinect. Even though they backpedalled the DRM the PR damage was done. Outside a couple of exclusives it has never had a selling proposition. It's never been the cheapest, it doesn't have new hardware--not like the Wii U's gamepad, anyway--and it is not the most powerful console.


Power is increasingly irrelevant. The Wii U is barely more powerful than the PS360 consoles, but if Nintendo had played their titles and marketing with it correctly it would be in the lead easily. They didn't. The PS4 happens to be the most powerful console out there, but its Sony's comparatively strong marketing and PR presence which gives it such an edge.

4 PAGES AND NOT A SINGLE MENTION OF THE SUPER NINTENDO? I don't even like Nintendo. I still collect Sega Genesis games to this day.

Super Nintendo (and I wish it hadn't) outsold the sega genesis. It's DIRECT competition.

PS3 also OUTSOLD the 360. Forget the Wii, it wasn't the PS3's direct competition. It sold to old people, and compared to the PS3 and 360, had a very low attachment rate, and a lot of shovelware. So, I don't care what you want to say about the Wii outselling the PS3 & 360, the fact is that it was being sold to a different branch of people.
Low attachment rates.
Lots of shovelware.
Did not receive HD quality content, and many 3rd party multi-platform releases skipped the Wii entirely.

With that said. The PS3 outsold the 360 for first place in terms of HD consoles. (Wii had no competition as far as I'm concerned, it was doing it's own thing, and obviously, with the Wii U, the Wii sold to a market that could only be tapped once in a very long while, if ever again.)

So, now, the PS4 is doing what every Playstation has always done. Outsell it's direct competition. But, the PS3 didn't do as well as the other consoles did, but it still did it.

As some have said, price has some to do with it. But, wasn't the SNES more expensive than a Genesis? Price plays a big part, but not entirely. Still need games. Better games, and lots of 'em.

I'm still annoyed VHS beat out Beta-Max