Back when the Xbox 360 was regularly topping hardware sales charts in North America, Microsoft was quick to post sales figures for its console but after several consecutive months of seeing the Xbox One trail the PS4, Redmond has remained quiet on just how many systems they've actually sold.
Indeed, the last update we had on that front was a shipment update in April when they announced that five million Xbox Ones had been sent to retailers. By constrast, Sony's 10 million PS4's sold figure relates to consoles actually in the hands of consumers.
Here's what Microsoft Studios Global Product Marketing leader Aaron Greenberg had to say recently when asked about the absence of NPD numbers from the platform holder:
@Lieaire2005 summer is always slow, like pre-season. We tend to focus on holiday when it really counts!
— Aaron Greenberg (@aarongreenberg) September 4, 2014
It's worth noting that Sony topped hardware charts during the summer and software charts too thanks to the release of The Last of Us Remastered.
Of course, it's rare for a company to admit when sales figures are underwhelming. Sony has previously combined sales of the PSP and Vita rather than breaking them down individually, for example, although Nintendo generally does reveal sales information, even when it isn't pretty.
The latest milestone reached by the current-gen consoles is Sony's announcement that one million PS4s have been sold in the UK to date, the second fastest console after the Wii to reach that milestone.
While Sony UK boss Fergal Gara told DigitalSpy that sales of the console have "cooled" in recent weeks, he maintains that's because people were waiting for the release of the Destiny PS4 bundle which releases today. The Destiny bundle has also been the first time that the PlayStation 4 has been available in white.
Somewhat spoiling the party for Sony however, was Microsoft's announcement last week that anyone who buys an Xbox One this week will get a free game of their choice, including Destiny.
Between now and the end of the year the PS4 will be getting LittleBigPlanet 3 and DriveClub as exclusives while the Xbox One has Forza Horizon 2, Sunset Overdrive, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection. While both consoles are now available for the same price, the PS4 has maintained its lead and it will be interesting to see how sales of Destiny, which has been heavily marketed by Sony, will impact sales of PS4 or Xbox One.
