New Xbox Live services are expected to be announced this year as Sony’s PS4 consoles continue to outsell Microsoft’s Xbox One console brand.
While Xbox One sales appear to be declining in 2019, the tech giant looks to be expanding their Xbox Live Gold ecosystem with new and exciting options.
Recent reports indicate that the tech giant is planning to release a brand new Xbox One console, with their new Cloud Gaming business also launching this year.
And that’s not to mention what they have planned for the Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold.
But none of that can change the fact that the PS4 continues to sell better than the Xbox console brand in 2019.
A new report out this week has confirmed that the gap between the two gaming machines grew in February 2019.
The data shared by VGChartz covers the United States, a key market for both hardware makers.
The good news is that while more PlayStation 4s were sold in the region during February, it wasn’t by a huge number.
Here’s more from the VGChartz report, which reveals: “In February 2019 the gap in the US between the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One grew in favour of the PlayStation 4.
“The PlayStation 4 sold 67,145 more units than the Xbox One in the last month.
“The PlayStation 4 has also sold 1.03 million more units in the last 12 months. The PlayStation 4 currently leads by 3.80 million units.
“The PlayStation 4 has sold 28.71 Million units, while the Xbox One has sold 24.91 million units.”
Sony, meanwhile, has hit new sales numbers in other key markets that Xbox has failed to conquer.
New data from Media Crate reveals that the PlayStation 4 has now sold more than eight million units sold in Japan.
This information is reportedly for the week ending March 24, which will be welcome news for Sony when considering the growing strength of the Nintendo Switch.
Nintendo’s latest console is closing in on a similar number in the region, having been available for just over two years.
But while Microsoft might be falling behind their competitors, it’s doing plenty to produce revenue from its Xbox Live ecosystem.
A new disc-less Xbox One is expected to be announced and released in May 2019, a move which will prove an interesting experiment.
Not only will it mean gamers buying most of their stuff off the Xbox Game Store but it will also gauge how open people are to the idea.
A disc-less console is expected to cost less due to it being cheaper to manufacture, another big benefit for Xbox.
Another rumour this week claims that Microsoft is planning to release a new combined subscription service.
A new Xbox Game Pass “Ultimate” subscription is reportedly in the works, combining the digital library and Xbox Live Gold.
This new subscription would reduce the cost of having both subscriptions, although it is only expected to drop the price by around $5.
The Verge reports that this new subscription combo will be announced alongside the new disc-less Xbox console, later this year.
The announcement is expected to be made in the coming weeks and before the end of April.
It’s unclear if Microsoft will be hosting their own live stream event, while also offering news on some of their other projects.
It makes sense that the company would want to offer something like this with the new disc-less console, as it will be seen as a way to boost subscriptions.
Revenue from Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Live Gold has been proven to be highly profitable.
It will also be interesting to see if we get further news on Project xCloud, Microsoft’s new cloud gaming business.
Touted to be available on a number of different devices, such as mobile phones, we still don’t have a clear release date.
We also don’t know how much it will cost or how exactly it will fit in with Microsoft’s other ventures.
But if the tech giant finds their latest bundling efforts to be successful, we wouldn’t be surprised to hear about a plan combining everything into one package.
