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Xbox One finally beats PlayStation with the help of Master Chief

For much of the past two years, the PlayStation 4 has outsold the Xbox One.

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Between winning the war of public opinion and a lower initial price, the Xbox One has consistently lagged the PlayStation 4 in monthly sales. But not this past October.

That's right: the Xbox One bested the PlayStation 4 in monthly sales for one of the first times ever, and there's one important reason for that. His name is Master Chief.

"Halo 5: Guardians"
This supersoldier — "Master Chief" — is the reason so many people are buying the Xbox One. Microsoft

That's not just a major feat because of recent history, but also because the PlayStation 4 dropped in price during October

Don't just take my word for it!

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"The strength of the greatest games lineup in Xbox history drove record Xbox Live usage for October and made Xbox One the best-selling console in the US," Microsoft's corporate VP of Xbox marketing, Mike Nichols, said in a statement issued to press this week.

The vast majority of games coming out this holiday season are available on both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 (as well as PC, usually). What differentiates the Xbox One are a few notable exclusives: "Halo 5: Guardians" and "Rise of the Tomb Raider." 

While we don't know numbers on the latter, "Halo 5: Guardians" made Microsoft "more than $400 million" in the first seven days it was available. Not too shabby! But how does that stack up to other major releases? There's one easy comparison: the new "Call of Duty."

Halo 5
"Halo 5" taking aim at "Call of Duty" sales numbers! Microsoft

Activision says this year's game, "Call of Duty: Black Ops 3," sold "over $550 million" in its three-day "launch weekend" (whatever that means).

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While that's $150 million more than "Halo 5: Guardians" in a shorter period of time, it's important to note that "Halo 5" is available on a single platform — the Xbox One — whereas the new "Call of Duty" is available on five: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Put more simply: a ton of people are buying "Halo 5: Guardians," and the only way they can play it is with an Xbox One. Hopefully someone at Microsoft is throwing the hulking green supersoldier a killer party this weekend.

Gaming Xbox One Call of Duty
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