2. might be the reason some people did it, but I purchased it so i could play Assassins Creed Black Flag on a better performing console than the PS3... I also wanted some other PS4 only games. So I guess thats the key here, is that different people want different things from the console at launch. 10 million is 10 million and no matter how people try and cook the data, people purchased it to play games.

I doubt that more than maybe 5% bought the PS4 because of all the Indie games which have a Meta above 80 or that these games were the reason to chose a PS4 instead of an XBO for more than a few people.

PS has simply a lot of fans and PS3 would have sold also much better as 360 if the price wouldn't have been so high and if PS3 wouldn't have released later. But because of that high price and later release, many bought a 360 and because many already had a 360 then, many others bought one as well to play with friends who have one. 360 was also known to have an advantage against PS if it comes to online (party chat and so on). Not sure if there is still one on XBO but it is surely much smaller this gen. 

That Nintendo's console is selling not that much is because casuals aren't jumping on it like on the Wii and without them Nintendo does simply not have so many fans who will buy their home consoles. Tthe lack of big games like Fifa or Battlefield hurts as well.

PS is selling so great because there is no reason for PS fans to buy something else as long as Sony will do what they always do and because they sell the strongest hardware for a good price so that many people who don't care about the company behind it and don't even care about much more than CoD or Fifa or the latest game from TV ads will buy the PS4 simply because they read/heard that it's the strongest hardware but which isn't really more expensive as an XBO.

Another reason why XBO is selling so much less is obviously that they didn't really do a good job last year and there are still many who have that in mind. I just have to think about what a scandal it was in Germany (reports in huge magazines like Der Spiegel) that MS gives informations to the NSA  and that XBO has a camera which could theoretically spy on you. Was a big thing here and since the whole NSA scandal was big here I'm not surporised that XBO is selling so bad in Germany.

Not to forget all the other stuff which didn't work out very well for them and their reputation. 

IMHO I think people are purchasing PS4's in part due to future potential. I just got one & I'm enjoying every minute I spend on it, even the indie games, Velocity 2x is great!

No. Hype is when you are excited about something that could/should come, but you have really no proof of it ever coming.  Just pure baseless expectation based on, as you say, excitement. Hype was Titanfall being called the second coming of Christ and GOTG without anyone ever playing it. That's not the case with PS4, which has already delivered. The cards are down, we know what we get, what we will get in the future. This is not hype at this point, it's not based on excitement, but regular emotionless calculation. PS4 wins hands down and there is no hype needed, no place for speculation left. It is the best product on the market and there is nothing in sight that could change it.

The first year of PS4 was sold on hype, now they've got to deliver the games they promised in the next year which the hype was built on. I hardly play my PS4 compared to my Wii U, I seem to be spending my 'PS4 time' waiting on games to be released. Most of the Ps4 library is unappealing to me, a lot of new IP that I don't feel comfortable taking a risk trying them out.

If you choose the wii U over the two others you gain first party games but loose a olbunch of great high profil third party games, if you choose the X1 over the PS4 you will be getting the inferior version of those said games all gen. Plus looking at the past gen Sony's first party stand very well compared to the competition's.

Perhaps, but most of those third party games I could just play on my 9 year old Xbox 360. (If they appealed to me in the first place; almost none of them do)

Ouya master race FTW!!

I guess it has the best upcoming library(with the most upcoming exclusives worldwide) so far. Currently though, not so much.

I think the success is from consumers knowing what games to expect. Great first through third party support.

Of course, XBone being bundled with Kinect at launch helped some too.