The XB1 was supposed to be my first next gen machine of choice. MS talked me out of my purchase during E3 2013. I would, however, I can say without reservation that I will purchase an X1 once a Kinectless SKU at 299 comes out.

Do eeet MS.

Proooobably a mix of reasons it's having trouble building momentum early on.

-Original DRM policies led to the widely held (possibly true) belief that the console flat-out would not work if you were in an unsupported country. Basically, if you were an Xbox Fan in a non-released country, and you wanted to play Ryse or Dead Rising 3 at launch, you couldn't even IMPORT a console to play those games. Massive blowback, probably left a sour taste in the mouth of many a non-launch country, and even though importing is obviously an option now, the basic feeling of '**** you' might have lost them some previous gen customers, widening Sony's lead in Europe and Asia. (Definately doesn't help that the PS4 has a massive head start on a lot of markets. xD )

-The whole Snowden thing was reeeeeally bad timing. Even though I don't believe the Kinect was intended as a spy camera or anything like that, it was REALLY damaging to have this camera peripheral which, at the time, was said to always need to remain connected, even as leaks were suggesting the U.S. was actively spying on pretty much everybody with the help of companies like Microsoft. Think the Germans were REALLY not pleased, which might partially explain why the PS4 is outselling the X1 3:1, when the PS3 only outsold the 360 about 2:1.

-While perhaps minor, during that DRM policies time (which was a reaaaaally long week for Microsoft,) the same region locking suggested that troops stationed overseas wouldn't be able to use an Xbox One console. That... was not received well, and in the U.S., the words 'This Company Isn't Supporting The Troops' can, in some regions, be tantamount to marketing suicide.

-Then there's the sluggish disconnect of the Kinect, the sluggish removal of the paywall over apps and such, and a mix of other nitpicks and irritants that just sort of kept the Xbox One was building a good head of steam, along with the fact that a lot of Microsoft's pre-launch PR just reeeeally didn't help their cause. It also doesn't help their hold on the wider market that the original reveal focused heavily on television and sports features that simply weren't available outside the U.S. at launch, and probably STILL aren't available in a handful of its current launch markets, and might not be available in its FUTURE launch markets.

So, all that ^ is stuff that pretty much kneecapped them. The thing about that is, if you fall out of grace, it can be reeeeally hard to get back in it. It took Sony years of solid groveling to pull it off, and the PS3 still got outsold by the Xbox 360 by, like, seventeen million units or so in the U.S. Even minor things, like the resolution differences of Xbox titles going to PC, get magnified because a chunk of the available market is eyeing the Xbox One like a distrustful parent, WAITING for it to draw on the walls again, and the moment it so much as picks its nose, BACK IN THE TIMEOUT CORNER.

If the Xbox finds equal footing with Sony, it's likely going to take years, and LOTS of groveling.

I wonder if EA is getting nervous ? They hitched themselves to the MS wagon pretty hard and Sony dissed their subscription service .

Given the whole 'Value of the Gamer' thing is the usual PR either Microsoft or Sony says, I do confess, I have kind of wondered whether this is Sony putting a bit of a squeeze on EA because of the fact that they threw in their lot so extensively with Microsoft. I mean, EA is launching this service in Europe, not having it on Playstation is going to HURT, because the Xbox One just isn't going to have the market penetration to get them entrenched. xP Given Sony's currently top dog in sales, and shows little signs of slowing down, AND probably isn't thrilled about a competing subscription service... doubt they feel terribly inclined to help EA with much of anything, unless there's a very strong benefit to them. xP

Granted, these are big companies, such schoolyard tactics do seem unlikely. I am left with the amusing image of Sony sprawled in an easy chair, stroking a cat and saying to EA; "On our platform? But EA, what of Microsoft? You two have become such bosom chums, I'd hate to get in the way of that... no, I think that you should leave now. Take your service with you. Oh, and EA? Enjoy that splendid partnership with Microsoft." Cue deep-throated cackling.

Did you mean halo 4?  Because it would be difficult to just jump into the halo series at three, since it is the continuation of a cliffhanger at the end of halo 2.

Your, and a lot of other people, mistake is thinking there are 80+ million Xbox fans. In fact there are only about 24 million Xbox fans and Xb one sales reflect this fact. And the fact that the appeal of Xb one over PS4 is pretty much non-existent for the swing market. The Playstation fans are much more numerouus as can be seen from the fact thhat with all the disadvantages PS3 started with, it still managed 80+ million.

Xbox 360 sold to way more people than the core Xbox fanbase. Playstation 3 largely sold to Pplaystation's core fanbase and not much else. Soo now we are seeing an all things being equal return to form. What's surprising is that people are somehow surprised by this.

When given a choice between 2 consoles you go where you get the most bang for your bucks.

General perception is that the PS4 is the console bringing it.

MS were not ready to launch in 2013. Add to this the DRM fiasco and here's your recipe for underwhelming results.

10 million +? I can see Uncharted 4 selling 7-10 million, but nothing more and nothing less than that! :-/

Very good numbers for TLOU and PS4, I'm starting to think it could reach 50% market share this year.

It honestly can't get any worse than it was, since It's $100 cheaper.