With the console war set to heat up again over the holidays with a number of exclusives, what happens month-after-month is pretty vital leading into October onward. Michael Pachter, an analyst for the video game market, believes that Microsoft could very well have a jump leading into this period.

VentureBeat reported on Pachter’s note, indicating that the Xbox One has managed to outsell the highly popular PlayStation 4 console for the first time in quite a while, selling 325,000 units for the month of September, compared to Sony’s 250,000 in sales.

That’s an interesting number, especially considering the promotional push Sony and Activision put behind the action-packed shooter Destiny, which featured exclusive content on both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. With the help of marketing, the game became a best seller, and also provided the PS4 with a sales boost in European markets.

However, Destiny may not be the big title to drive the holiday season, as Pachter also analyzed the sci-fi shooter. Despite its popularity, the game is no Grand Theft Auto, according to Pachter (who’s referring to last year’s best-selling Grand Theft Auto V, which was a big hit for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3).

“Last September, Take-Two announced worldwide retail sell-through [sales to consumers] for [GTA V] of over $800 million on day one and over $1 billion for the first three days,” says a Wedbush investor note by Pachter, according to GamesIndustry International. “[Those are] both industry records. This September’s biggest release, Activision Blizzard’s Destiny, had day one sell-in to retailers of over $500 million, a record for a new franchise, with sell-through to consumers of over $325 million in its first five days.”

So that’s a positive, right Not entirely. “We estimate Destiny’s NPD unit sales figures for September will be 2.75 million units. That’s well below Grand Theft Auto V’s roughly 7 million unites last year.”

As a result, Pachter believes the market will see a 42 percent drop in game sales compared to the previous year…although big titles on the way could still assure a strong holiday season. (That’s including the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of GTA V, which are set to arrive on November 18th.)