This, more than anything else.

If thats the case then how is it that Sony expanded the popularity of console gaming by  nearly doubling its size by themselves?  No console has ever reached 160 million consoles since the playstation. Sony was doing something right from the start. The Xbox One is selling more than the 360 and is still not in Sonys league. On a good day the Xbox is still not in sonys league. A large chunk of 360 gamers actually jumped ship from the PS2 due to Sonys screwing up. The Xbox One will not achieve the lasting sales of the 360 this gen in the end though. 50 to 60 million tops.

 No. Ive been saying to you that Insomniac wasnt second party to Microsoft from the start. A second party has to be contracted and therefore commissioned to make an exclusive IP and its development process is worked on for said company. Microsoft doesnt own the IP but did agree to publish the game (Thus...making this a third party issue, not second party). Insomniac wasnt commissioned by Microsoft to make Sunset Overdrive. They sought out Microsoft. 

Here is a video which will show you the definitions of first second and third party. it even shows (during the descrption) since Insomniac is a major second party studio for Sony the difference between their role as second party and third party briefly on pictures with Ratchet and clank (second party) and Sunset Overdive (third party)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxR0sUT3egc

2/3 or more of your list is the same three Gears Halo Forza over and over.  Can they make anything but that brosef Western crap?

With all the Zero Dawn and BotW press I was seriously anticipating a surprise announcement Halo Super Ultra HD 8K ReReReMaster Ultimate Man Football Muscle Lamborghini Gun Helmet Leet Competition Edition.

No diversity on Xbox. The same macho western genres and over again for 8+ years got old. Retro, Japanese, platforming, adventure, and RPGs are getting popular again. Sony embraces that like they always have.  That's why Sony is dominating.  Hopefully the green and brown Western shooter fad is finally over.

A combination of a well balanced console for $399 that can do 1080p and a bunch of great games. The most infuriating thing about the Xbox is that it's underpowered and doesn't have many exclusives, we still waiting on those E3 2014 games while Sony been pumping out and announcing new titles every year. I'm afraid MS might've learned the wrong lesson with Xbone, that PS4 only won cuz it was more powerful.

Microsoft made the same mistake as Sony did with PS3. They got arrogant and thought they could win the market by doing bunch of non-gaming stuff.

I just love that Sony seems to get what hardcore gamers want, they're courting the best developers like Miyazaki and Kojima without having them come to Sony pitch an idea cuz they know whatever they do it's gonna be great. Square Enix also got the memo this gen.

They must be doing their market research on forums and social media and those in charge like Shu are gamers themselves.

It is because Sony has the best exclusive games on the market and they fixed the PS3 mistakes on PS4.

I don't need a random YouTube link from some random YouTuber, I have knowledge of decades reading and watching the talk of the industry plus a Sony exec. If you scour Papa Phil's twitter account you'll also see him saying games like Dance Central Spotlight and Ninja Gaiden 2 were 2nd party, both of which are even weaker examples of 2nd party games than Sunset, because they were both already established IPs :)

Or maybe we need to take YouTuber #615 at his word over Phil Spencer and whatever Yoshida? Look, I tried to throw you a lifeboat but you seem intent on drowning here so have fun. 

Marketing, Price, Performance, Hardware, Games.

I mean... the PS4 was smaller than the XB1, had an internal PSU, looked better, was more powerful and launched at a lower price.

Games was a slow start but now Sony have started rolling they're winning on the games front too.

No you are not on topic at all with your questions. The topic is why or how Sony retake the market.

My answer (base on my personnal oppinion) was very simple: Price, their console was 100$ less expensive and both were able to play the same games and seen as a new generation console to the general consumer. I never talked about why it was more or less, the final point is, one was cheaper, end of story. Only fanboys and nerds are really caring about the CPU, GPU, more pixels here and there, more FPS and other stuff like that in the console which is probably a very little portion of the marketshare. To the general consumers, COD runs and plays the same on both console, one is 100$ less tho... Choice is simple.

Your point is about how "fair" the price of the Xbox One was and how evil Microsoft are and how such bullshit it was and blah blah blah blah. The point is:  it was 100$ more than the Play Station Four for the SAME capabilities to the general consumer. Simple as that. I'm not scared to "answer" your question as it is not even important and what I think is obviously different than you and as the 28.7M Xbox One sold to date prove, the Xbox One offers a lot of value, obviously not to YOU tho. And looking at your rent on Microsoft, the Xbox One, how powerfull and mighty the Play Station Four is and how Kinect was "forced" to you like Microsoft had any magical way to force you to spend your money on their offering (really people saying that are just hiloarious...)... It is pretty clear that you are not here to debate but just hammer your oppinion about Microsoft offering which I respectfully disagree and do not care about...

Learned from their mistakes
Good price point
Microsoft hiccup with kinnect and online policy
Diversity in games from fps to rpg to platformers