I mostly disagree with OP on this one.
The initial Xbox One reveal last year attracted some of the most overwhelmingly negative press I have *ever* seen around something gaming-related, and I say that as someone who has been reading gaming sites since about 2000. Don Mattrick's somewhat smug demeanour really didn't help matters; he really was very intensely disliked, and his choice of career path since leaving Microsoft gives a fairly clear indication of why.
But really, Sony just rode that anti-Microsoft wave all the way up to the PS4 launch last year. There were the snarky remarks and videos (like Sony's hilariously bitchy demonstration of how to share PS4 games with your friends), all the while Microsoft were busy backpedalling as fast as they possibly could. Unfortunately, the gaming press had already put Sony on a pedestal and spent several months raking Microsoft over hot coals, and it was going to take quite a while for Microsoft to recover from that. Couple that with the consistently negative press Nintendo was getting, mostly over a lack of games (which was kind of hilarious, since the PS4, Xbox One and just about every other console ever had gone through the same dry spell at some point), and the PS4 launched in a near-perfect storm of hype. Since hype is often self-propagating, it's been an uphill battle for Nintendo and Microsoft since the PS4 launched, and both of those companies only now seem to be really recovering.
It's worth remembering that the console that is strongest out the gate isn't always the one that goes on to be the best-seller, though; the DS struggled against the PSP initially, and while the Wii has still ended up being the best-selling home console of the previous generation, it was consistently outsold week to week by the PS3 and 360 later in its life. I'll be interested to see how the PS4 looks after Xmas, given that it's got arguably the most scant offerings for the rest of the year in terms of exclusives.
