'Titanfall' Release Date Is Here: Launch Increases UK Xbox One Sales By 96 Percent, PS4 By 72 Percent

Xbox One sales increased 96 percent last week with the launch of first-person shooter “Titanfall.” The game also hit shelves for the PC and will launch for the Xbox 360 on March 25. Entertainment sales-monitoring research company Chart-Track revealed that 70 percent of U.K. Xbox One sales were “Titanfall” bundles, which included the console and the game for 399 pounds.

Ironically, according to retail sources speaking to Chris Dring, Editor of MCV UK, Xbox One’s competitor, Sony’s PS4 also saw an increase in sales -- by 72.4 percent. “PS4 is in a stronger position,” he said. “It had by far the strongest Christmas out of the two and a really strong start to the year, so has opened a big gap over Xbox One.”

“Sony’s big issue is making enough consoles,” he added. “PS4 has been subject to stock shortages in some areas, particularly during February. In fact last week, PS4 sales rose by over 70% last week because there was an increase in consoles shipped into the market.”

Microsoft anticipated an increase in sales prior to “Titanfall’s” launch. “We're making a big bet that 'Titanfall' is going to be a blockbuster launch for Xbox," Yusuf Mehdi, chief marketing and strategy officer for Microsoft, told Reuters on March 11. "We don't have a sales forecast for the game to share, but we expect it to be big for us.”

It’s no surprise that the much-anticipated title has proved itself to be a system seller. On March 10, one insider claimed the impending release of “Titanfall” had already helped move 1 million Xbox Ones from store shelves.

On March 9, NeoGAF user famousmortimer, also known as Pete Dodd, an industry insider the site claims has a reliable track record, claimed “Titanfall” has already led to 1 million Xbox One consoles being sold in the past few weeks.

“Microsoft has a very real image problem right now. And if ‘Titanfall’ doesn't help correct that there isn't any reason to think anything will this year,” Dodd said. “Marketing guys project that ‘Titanfall’ has already helped sell around 1 million Xbox Ones. This is based off of things like upticks in sales after every major ‘titanfall’ announcements. They don't know if it will move 200k more at this point. The ‘titanfall’ bundle is selling less than Microsoft projected (but they are still hopeful for a big swing come tuesday). If ‘titanfall’ doesn't turn around the sales... and the image problem - what will? Direct X 12 unlocking the magic secret gpu when it releases in 1.5 years?”

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