At CES today Sony announced that 4.2 million PlayStation 4s have been sold worldwide. This is an extremely impressive sales figure, but how does it compare to the Xbox One or Wii U? How much faster are the new consoles selling than their predecessors?

IGN has cut through the noise to bring you some real talk on what all these sales figures actually mean:

Where Things Stand Now

Before we go any farther, let’s put all the cards on the table for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U as they stand right now.

4.2 million PlayStation 4s have been sold worldwide since the console launch on November 15 to December 28 - around six weeks. The console hasn’t launched in Japan yet, either. But since Sony is still selling PS4s as fast as it can make them, the sales figure would essentially be 4.2 million even if the console was available globally. PS4s are still out of stock at most retailers - until supply catches up with demand, it’s hard to gauge how high global demand for the console truly is.

3 million Xbox Ones have been sold from its launch on November 22 through December 31, a period of about 5.5 weeks. Like the PS4, The Xbox One isn’t yet available in Japan, and in 2013 Microsoft also sold virtually every console as fast as it could make them. But unlike the PS4, Xbox Ones are now in stock on Amazon, GameStop, and various other retailers - it appears that supply has caught up with launch demand, and in the coming months we should get a clear look at true Xbox One demand.

Nintendo last supplied official Wii U sales data at the end of October, and at that time the company reported 3.91 million Wii Us sold worldwide, after around 11 months of availability. Estimates for cumulative Wii U sales that include the all-important November and December sales periods range from 4.5 million to 5.2 million, but until Nintendo provides real data, these numbers are just best guesses.

Just How Strong Were These Launches?

So, the PS4 is off to an incredibly strong start, the Xbox One also had a solid launch, while the Wii U is struggling. But how does this compare to previous console generations? Are the consoles selling better than their predecessors?

The answer is yes - absolutely. It’s harder to make a direct comparison because the console launches today are coordinated globally in a much tighter way. Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 had slow, staggered global roll outs, making total sales data from the first six or eight weeks of availability a little less useful. But with that in mind, here are the stats:

The Xbox 360 sold 1.5 million in its first six weeks. Remember that the Xbox One sold 3 million units in a similar time frame.

Sony sold 1.7 million PS3s in its first eight weeks, compared to 4.2 million PS4s in a comparable time frame.

Lastly, the Wii U may have struggled in 2013, but it actually launched very strong. 1.53 million consoles were sold in the US and Japan in around the first six weeks of availability. European launch stats aren’t available, but they probably push launch Wii U sales up to around 2 million total consoles, 1 million less than the Xbox One and 2.2 million less than the PS4.

So What Does This All Mean?

It’s certainly fun to compare Sony’s 4.2 million PS4s sold vs. Microsoft’s 3 million and draw all kinds of conclusions. But the truth is that both consoles were virtually sold out through the holidays. Anecdotally the Xbox One was a little easier to get your hands on this holiday season, but it will be the coming months that truly reveal whether either console will experience sustained demand, or if they just launched strong and will now fade fast in a similar manner as the Wii U.

We can draw three real conclusions from these stats:

1) The Wii U is in real trouble.

Both Sony and Microsoft nearly erased Nintendo’s year-long lead in a matter of weeks. Both consoles will be in more homes than the Wii U soon, if they aren’t already.

2) The console business is extremely healthy.

PC gaming may be thriving. Mobile gaming may be thriving. But it seems neither category is growing at the expense of the traditional game console. It’s impressive to see just how much stronger and faster the launch of the PS4 and Xbox One were when compared with the problem-plagued launches of the PS3 and Xbox 360.

3) We have a long way to go.

Fanboys can quibble over launch figures all they want, and they do matter - momentum is extremely important. But with both the Xbox One and PS4 likely to sell 80 million+ units in their lifetime, no one should spend much energy getting overly excited about the first couple million. It’s still the opening few minutes of the game.

Justin Davis runs IGN's features. You can follow him on Twitter at @ErrorJustin or on IGN for tweets about video games, burritos, and general paranoia.Infographics by Lucas M. Thomas