Cause the Xbox One has the best chance of winning those territories simply because those countries make up a bigger portion of it's sales, while the PS4 has a more even distribution worldwide. The 360 also took last gen for the US and UK, and from what I've noticed at least is that a lot of 360 owners buy right into the kind of games that the Xbox One caters (Halo, Gears of War, etc.), so if they had a choice between the two evenly matched consoles they'd go with the ones with the games they like.

Xbox easily won gen 7 against playstation which is what they talk about right ,about 18m up i think,level with nintendo though

xbox market loss in gen 8 against playstation is already hurting though as we can hear by all these announcements

Because PS4 has no multiplayer games outside of multiplats worth playing. We like our multiplayer games. Gears and Halo will sell boxes.

Speaking from the US perspective, I can give a couple of big reasons why this is...

1: Unlike a good chunk of the rest of the world (specifically Japan, but also many parts of Europe as well), the general gaming populace isn't fiercely loyal to one specific console manufacturer or another here, nor do we shun entertainment companies who aren't based in our home country. We've gone from Atari to Nintendo, to briefly SEGA then back to Nintendo, then Sony and then Nintendo again, then M$ and for now back to Sony as console market share leaders over the past 30 years.

2: While the console industry was completely dominated by Japanese-developed games and consoles for nearly two decades, in the past gen the Xbox brand, especially 360, helped consoles branch out to more western style games that were traditionally only found on PC like online shooters, strategy and WRPGs. Since the PC / Windows platform was so popular in the west, especially in the US, having the Xbox / Xbox 360 as more living room friendly extensions of these platforms greatly increased the audience and appeal of traditionally PC-only titles and genres.

Also M$ may not have been the first to bring online gaming to consoles, but they were the first to get it right with their Xbox Live platform, and for a good portion of last gen XBL was a big selling point for the 360, and it was the lead platform for many of the biggest online titles like Halo and COD.

You can't extrapolate like that.
Xbox is the one and only console ever that is extremely US centric. That and the year head start helped it to Win US against PS3 by a landslide.
Console ecosystems are more and more integrated now so changing a console is more and more difficult. In the past there wasn't a single thing keeping a person from changing consoles between generations. Now they have subscriptions, friends lists, achievements, familiarity. The chance that people who had an X360 will go with X1 this gen is really really high in US.
MS is willing to fight for it so US will be definitely Xbox territory. Unless of course they screw up again and make a 180 in the wrong direction.

achivements/trophies, imo, only motivate the fanatics that knew which console they were getting before any console was announced.

friends is a huge reason people pick a console, but the last gen consoles don't play with the next gen consoles.  people will follow their IRL friends to whatever console they are insterested in.  internet friends, in everything i've ever played, are extreemly disposable.

subscriptions run out and aren't that expensive to begin with.

...pay attention to the early gen sales.   they haven't been anything like last gen sales.   that already is the proof that these influences don't matter that much.  america especially has no brand loyalty.

Of course they are (a toss up) as we've seen the last few months. If MS didn't make change PS4 would for sure be the winner crushing that claim.

I think what people mean (and were expecting) is that provided the previous leader doesn't monumentally fuck up (which they always seem to do) they'd take first place.

If Sony had come out with a cheaper and flawless campaign for PS3, it would have won. If MS hit all the right boxes with XB1, it would have hit the ground running.

Just looking in the current Kinect dropped threads show some people saying that UK/US is now a MS lockin. I personally don't see it that way, and believe Sony could squeak it, probably more so in the USA than in uk.

I remember the 360 being cheaper than the Wii at one point. It was popular for people to say why get a PS3 when you can get a Wii and 360 for less. It was a true argument to be honest. 

I do not believe the xstation is going to take US/UK. I did not believe it before the gen started and I do not believe it now. You could get a console, kinect and GOTG for less than a PS4 and it did not smash the PS4 out the charts. At the moment you can get a console, kinect, GOTG, forza and gohst for 420. 

Because the XO can only get better from now on