For some time now Microsoft’s Xbox One sales have been catching up to Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 4, due to price incentives and, in some part, Microsoft’s improved Xbox marketing strategy. When both consoles went on sale late last year PS4 was leading in sales figures by about 2-1, according to market industry experts NPD. But since Microsoft dropped the Xbox One price to the same price as the PS4, at $399, threw in more game bundles, and offered non-Kinect as well as Kinect consoles, the Xbox One has steadily been catching up to, and could take over PS4, in consoles sold.

According to Microsoft, sales have been booming since the console came down in price. A statement on the official Xbox blog at the time of the reduction read, “Since the new Xbox One offering launched on June 9th, we’ve seen sales of Xbox One more than double in the US, compared to sales in May, and solid growth in Xbox 360 sales.”

PS4, however, has outsold Xbox One every month since summer up to October this year, but it will be interesting to see how the figures change after the price of the Xbox One was reduced first to $349 in early November, with another reduction at the end of November, and yet another on December 1^st. At the same time the PS4’s price didn’t budge throughout the last month. Black Friday sales, says DataScout, heavily favored Xbox One, with most buyers citing the price as the inducement to go with the Microsoft console, according to a survey.

It seems at the moment that Microsoft may pick up more speed as we approach the holidays, partly due to the fact that the Redmond, CA-based company has plenty of money to spend on marketing and buffer discounted prices. While Sony reported a $1.2 billion loss in October this year, Microsoft has been seeing healthy sales revenues. If consumers are seemingly moved mostly by cost, then it may just happen that struggling Sony will lose out as Microsoft keeps on undercutting them.

Consumers seem to agree that both consoles are quite similar in terms of technology, design, and what bundles are offered, so they will likely go where they think the price is right. As one commenter wrote on a debate focused on which console was best, echoing the sentiment of several other commenters, “Both are equally good and it’s your personal choice as to which one is better. It’s like having a debate between which one is better: a green apple or a red apple.” The answer to which is the best apple, and consequently the top-selling apple, might simply boil down to which is the cheapest.

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