V07-36

Official Solution:


If you go by the popularity of Gaming units, as of Jan 4th 2015, Sony’s PS4 sold 18.5 million units and reached 10.9 million PlayStation Plus subscribers, a growth of 37.9% from October 2014. Despite the massive growth, Sony’s PlayStation is behind Microsoft’s Xbox One, which in November 2014 accelerated its sales due to a $50 price cut, and a bundle of free games. On 28th January 2015, Spotify, the leading music subscription service announced an exclusive partnership with PS4, and offered digital music to 64 million PlayStation Network users. With the announcement, Feb 2015 saw a spike in sales for the PS4 units by 45%.

Which one of the following conclusions is valid for the above statements?


A. PS4, on itself, does not have the brand reach nor the mass following needed to overtake Microsoft’s Xbox One.
B. Demand for Microsoft’s Xbox One declined during Feb 2015
C. Bundling of services has increased the market share for Sony’s PS4
D. Price cut had a direct impact on sales of Gaming Units
E. Sales of Sony’s PS4 will overtake Microsoft’s Xbox One in 2015


A. The passage states that PS4 is behind Xbox. It is not stated whether this falling behind is because of lower brand reach or less mass following. PS4 may as well have the brand reach and the mass following needed to overtake Xbox, BUT it may be lacking in some other factor that is making it fall behind Xbox. Therefore option A cannot be concluded.

B. It is mentioned in the passage that the sale of PS4 increased in February 2015. This spike does not necessarily imply that the sale of XBox decreased in February 2015: it is as well possible that the sale of XBox remained the same or even increased, thereby increasing the total market of gaming units. Thus this option cannot be concluded.

C. Increased sales does not necessarily mean an increase in market share. If the competitors’ sales also increase, then it is possible to have the same market share or even lower market share with increased sales.

D. Correct. Option D is true because the price cut had an impact on SOME gaming units, viz. Xbox One in November 2014. In order for option D to be true, it is not required that the price cut necessarily affect ALL gaming units. Consider this way:

A set S consists of two subsets P and Q. Something changed the subset P. A change in subset also implies a change in super-set because the super-set is no longer the same as a part of it has changed. Hence change in P implies a change in S.

E. The difference between the sales of PS4 and that of Xbox One is unknown. Although it is given that sales of PS4 increased by 45%, it cannot be concluded whether that increase would be sufficient to overtake sales of XboX One.


Answer: D