Almost immediately after PlayStation 4 launched in mid-November of 2013, it was clear that Sony was on to something. The company managed to sell a million PS4s in 24 hours , and the console was only out in North America. It was an incredible victory for a company that previously announced over a million PS4 pre-orders that were presumed to be spread across multiple territories, from the US to Sony's stronghold of Europe to its home country of Japan.

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“ Two or three million consoles isn't an insurmountable lead to overcome by any stretch of the imagination...

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“ Crazier yet -- and perhaps even confusingly -- is the fact that PlayStation 4 has sold so well with very few must-have games.

“ Sony understands where console gaming is going, and they understood it way before their competitors.

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“ PlayStation 4 is setting sales records, but when you look at historic console sales, Xbox One is trending well above average.

“ There's nothing more threatening than a desperate opponent.

Suddenly, PlayStation 4 was a true force with its record-setting sales, though the writing was on the wall since the console's reveal that February . Sony was doing everything right. It was doing what Greg and I pleaded for it to do for years on Podcast Beyond by focusing on the hardcore gamer. Sure, PS4 can play Blu-rays and boot-up Netflix, but who cares? You buy a gaming console for games; everything else is icing on the cake. Sony's message, especially when juxtaposed to Microsoft's "TV, Sports, Call of Duty"-centric approach, has clearly won-out so far.Fast-forward some six months after PlayStation 4's launch, where saying that Sony has a commanding lead over Microsoft at this early point is an understatement. PlayStation 4 has sold over 7 million units . Each of those consoles is in consumers' hands, attached to a television in their homes. Microsoft, on the other hand, has shipped 5 million units , and perhaps half a million or more are still sitting on store shelves. PlayStation 4s are hard to find . There are more Xbox Ones than the market currently demands. Titanfall was March, 2014's best-selling game in the US , and yet PlayStation 4 still outsold Xbox One. Even more interesting is that PlayStation 4 isn't selling well in Japan , Sony's safe haven, meaning that the brand's new-found strength rests solely in territories that may have felt more lukewarm about its predecessor. Xbox One hasn't yet launched in Japan.Crazier yet -- and perhaps even confusingly -- is the fact that PlayStation 4 has sold so well with very few must-have games. Infamous: Second Son was the very first post-release PS4 exclusive with real weight and consequence behind it, and while it sold a million copies right off the bat, PlayStation 4, at that point, was already soundly beating its competition. It only took a few months for it to outsell Wii U and put itself comfortably in front of Xbox One, and it did so with Killzone, Resogun, and Knack, not God of War, Uncharted, and Gran Turismo. This illustrates that the winning equation Sony has stumbled upon with PlayStation 4 goes far, far deeper than meets the eye.The first piece of the equation is no doubt price. When Sony abandoned the PlayStation Camera as a bundled-in device, it was playing chess while Microsoft, sticking by Kinect, was playing checkers. It allowed the company to undercut its competition by $100, lessening sticker shock and giving it a direct value proposition comparison. Sony showed flexibility, foresight, and adaptability, essential business traits it wasn't exactly known for during the PlayStation 3 era. Microsoft, meanwhile, bet on Kinect and the added value -- both in experience and real money -- it would add to Xbox One. Needless to say, the market has spoken, and I wouldn't be surprised to see a Kinect-less Xbox One in the coming months. (Ironically, PlayStation Camera is still so popular that it's nearly impossible to find . Choice matters.)When Microsoft revealed Xbox One , it did the exact opposite by hammering home the console's interconnectivity and its place in your home not as a games console, but as an entertainment device. By the time Microsoft realized the error of its ways and attempted to pivot, it was too late, at least where perception is concerned. While I often think we overstate the importance of the hardcore market on overall gaming trends, the fact remains that what we all witnessed with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as 2013 rolled on worked its way into mainstream press and the greater consumer consciousness. The numbers readily play this out. Xbox One is a quality machine that I use almost every day, but I rarely use it to play games, and that says it all. Tweeted yesterday, context is also important in an intellectually honest conversation. PlayStation 4 is setting sales records, but when you look at historic console sales, Xbox One is trending well above average. Indeed, its shipped numbers are just below Wii's -- the previous victor before PS4 came on the scene -- meaning that Xbox One is arguably the third quickest-selling console in industry history. That's nothing to scoff at. This makes one thing clear: PlayStation 4's success doesn't necessarily come at the expense of Xbox One. In fact, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 combined in their respective first six or so months on the market are outselling Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 by a wide margin, indicating that, in this case, a high tide may just raise all boats.The future, as you'd imagine, is far murkier and harder to predict, and I'm not necessarily convinced that PlayStation 4 is going to run away with the race in perpetuity. Let's not forget that Xbox 360 was completely trouncing PlayStation 3 -- for literally years -- and that PS3, over the long run, narrowed the gap, reaching and sustaining complete sales parity after a long, hard-fought struggle. Microsoft is more than capable of doing this with Xbox One, especially when the sales situation isn't nearly as dire for them as it was for Sony with PlayStation 3. They have the means, the smarts, and the will to change the status quo.Sony has sold PlayStation 4 with few must-have games, but the market that wants the console just to have it shrinks every time someone purchases one. Before long, Sony will need to deliver those triple-A goods, and the truth is that, at least in 2014, the company doesn't have much. The Order: 1886 is supposed to come out this year, and the much-delayed Driveclub is, too, and that's basically it. While Sony could have more to show at E3 -- and will have much more in the years to come, like Uncharted 4 -- Microsoft's upcoming catalog in the immediate future is far stronger. Project Spark, Sunset Overdrive, Quantum Break, and the much-rumored Halo 2 Anniversary could easily even the playing field. Yes, Titanfall was counterbalanced by Infamous: Second Son, but what does Sony have to battle each of those games as the year wears on?The only thing we know for sure is that the constant droning-on in years past about the death of console gaming -- especially after Wii U's tepid launch -- was incorrect. Console gaming is, numerically, as healthy as it's ever been.

Colin Moriarty is IGN’s Senior Editor. You can follow him on Twitter.