Xbox One "Catching Up Quickly" To PS4, EA Exec Says

Price drop and bundles helping Microsoft close the gap, EA CFO Blake Jorgensen says.

The Xbox One is "catching up quickly" to the PlayStation 4 in terms of worldwide sales, according to Electronic Arts CFO Blake Jorgensen. What's helping Microsoft close the gap is the recent $50 price drop and the value-focused Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty bundles currently available, he said today.

"Clearly, Sony has jumped out to a lead with a great console and I think a great pricing strategy. But Microsoft is catching up quickly," Jorgensen said today during a presentation at the 2014 UBS Global Technology Conference. "And pricing actions that are taking place, particularly within this Christmas season, driven by Microsoft around reductions plus a lot of bundled software, I think will continue to help pull the consumer into the new consoles."

Jorgensen predicted that, after the holiday shopping season ends, there will be "north of 25 million" combined Xbox One and PS4 systems in the market. It is unclear how many are in the market currently, but it's believed to be above 15 million (10 million PS4s and at least 5 million Xbox Ones).

In terms of the number of consoles shipped, Sony has moved 13.5 million PS4s, while Microsoft has sold 10 million Xbox Ones to retailers.

EA doesn't make money on console sales, but more current-generation systems in the market does have its benefits for the publisher.

"I think [more Xbox One and PS4 sales] starts to minimize the headwind we've seen over the last couple of years of people slowing their purchasing on old consoles in anticipation of buying titles for the new consoles," Jorgensen said.

Commenting on the overall success of the Xbox One and PS4, which celebrate their first anniversary this month, Jorgensen said both platforms have performed "well ahead of our expectations and I think most people in the industry's expectations."

The Xbox One and PS4 have sold well in key markets such as North America and Western Europe, Jorgensen said. He added that, when you compare Xbox One and PS4 sales to Xbox 360 and PS3 sales over the same period of time, the new consoles are selling 50-70 percent better.