He isn't getting "pushed around" for saying they have been more competitive.  He is getting "pushed around" because he said they are closing the gap by selling less than their competitor.

It's not a popular opinion around here to give MS credit for anything, if they hold their own then it's also apparently "well Sony wasn't even trying". Yeah gimme a break. 

I agree with the fact that they are more competitive.  Hell, I even want them to be.  The closer they can make things ANYWHERE the better it is for us as consumers.  However, the attempt at spin you had going on is a bit much.  Even you have to see that.  It is equally as bad as the "Sony isn't trying" tripe that is coming from others.

Lol that's brutal.  Sony really killing it pre season this year.

Excellent win for Sony.  They just did the treble.  

2014 - Check 

2015 - Check 

2016 - Check 

The clean sweep!!!! 

PS4 extended its lead by 1.3m units in 2015, so while the gap is still widening, it's widening far slower in 2016.

XBox One S did a lot to fix the reputation of the XBox and is now on more equal footing with the ps4 (in the USA). Although perhaps the slim effect is already wearing off as those boosts normally don't last long. The sales boost of a more expensive mid gen refresh model is still unknown, yet so far it doesn't seem to do much and actually seems to counteract the sales boost that normally comes with a slim release. With the 2 launched so close together, could people be waiting for a ps4 pro price drop?

XBox One S is a much bigger upgrade to XBox One, than ps4 slim to ps4. XBox One S looks like an affordable premium model, while ps4 slim looks like a cheap base model next to the more expensive ps4 pro. XBox One S had lots of deal, ps4 pro did not. To me, if you didn't have $400 to spend on a console, XBox One S looked far more appealing this holiday than ps4 slim.

Next year will be interesting. Will Scorpio make ps4 pro look like the affordable premium model?

The thing is, though, is that Sony did indeed try way harder in 2015 than in 2016. Three Star Wars Battlefront bundles, a Black Ops 3 LE bundle, an Uncharted Collection bundle which at that time the collection was only a month old, and not procrastinating on releasing the standard Black Ops 3 bundle.

2016? Discounting the Uncharted 4 bundle that was out since September and the game was 4 months old when the bundle released. The Pro didn't get an official holiday price drop so it was basically just the UC4 bundle pulling all the weight.

What spin?

MS has plenty of reason to be proud of what they've accomplished this year.

Sony has TWO models. Let me retierate that since it gets glossed over. TWO models. Going against a ONE model system they were previously dominating. 

If Sony didn't have PS4 Pro, even though it didn't appear to help that much, they probably would have lost this holiday season period. 

The sales gap is good enough, but I agree they weren't as competetive. Maybe didn't try hard is the wrong wording. Not as competive as last year is better. The multiple star wars bundles and cod bundles had enough time to sell. This year PRO and PSVR were never going to be huge sellers, too expensive for the holidays. Than we have the uncharted 4 bundle which does not have as much appeal. COD not being as good this year and bundle coming in late. Next year though is gon be good. 

Widening slower doesn't mean it is closing.

XB1S is certainly a step in the right direction.  However, as you mentioned, that impact will eventually decline.  Especially as we enter the dead zone of MS game releasing that is the typical front half of the year.

If I were making a purchase today based on the XB1S or the PS4 Slim I would pick the XB1S myself, solely based on the 4k aspect to it.  Though in that regard, I would spend the extra 100 for the PS4 Pro.  Scorpio could, and hopefully will, be a game changer and actually start to decrease the gap.  Then we as consumers start to win.

Sony would have lost this holiday season entirely without PS4 Pro IMO. No doubt that added at least 300-400k to their overall sales from November onwards, otherwise MS probably wins this holiday. PS4 Slim wasn't nearly as enthusiastically recieved as the XBox One S. 

US was XBox 360 Land too, lets not forget that, now that MS is removed a lot of the issues the XBox One had in the past with a fresh rebranding, it's not even that surprising that they are more competetive. People hate to say it, but the XBox brand still has considerable sway in the US.