NPD March: PS4 tops US retail chart for third month, Titanfall leads software
PlayStation 4 outsold Xbox One for the third month in a row in the US during March 2014, according to The NPD Group. Titanfall on Xbox One was the number one seller on the software chart with inFamous: Second Son landing in second place.
Overall, total industry sales increased 3% to $1.03 billion, despite March 2014's 28% drop in software sales to $432 million year-over-year.
Hardware sales were up 78% due to PS4 and Xbox One sales, coming in at $395 million.
NPD attributed the March 2014 42% yoy software decline to the lack of new releases compared to March 2013. Last year, there were eight new releases in the top 10 compared to six last month.
"Last March we saw eight of the top ten games were new launches with games like Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider, Gears of War: Judgment, God of War: Ascension," according to NPD analyst Liam Callahan.
"This March saw six of the top ten games as new launches with Titanfall, inFamous Second Son, South Park: The Stick Of Truth, and Dark Souls 2.”
Hardware's year-over-year surge were attributed to Sony and Microsoft's new consoles selling more than double that of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, respectively for the five month period.
Accessories were up 4% to $224 million.
NPD March: Hardware
Sony's PlayStation 4 was the best-selling console for three months in a row, and despite the firm remaining quite on the NPD front, the firm announced this week PS4 had sold over 7 million units worldwide.
Microsoft commented that over 5 million Xbox One consoles have been sold-in to retailers since launch, with global sales of the console outpacing Xbox 360 by more than 60% at the same point in time.
"Even more important to us is how much fun you are having on Xbox One," said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate VP of marketing, strategy and business at Xbox in a prepared statement.
"It’s amazing that Xbox One fans are spending an average of five hours per day on Xbox One and collectively have totaled more than one billion hours of time spent in games and apps on the console. In particular, we broke new usage records with the number of unique Twitch broadcasters in the first week of availability. "
While Nintendo didn't issue a statement, industry analyst David Gibson issued a few sales figures for Wii, Wii U and 3DS.
According to Gibson, Wii sales came in at 28,000; Wii U just over 70,000; PSP approximately 5,000; PlayStation Vita a little over 10,000; and 3DS at 159,000.
NPD March: Software
Xbox One and Xbox 360 had 10 titles listed on the NPD top 10. Xbox One held four top titles eight top 10 console games, while Xbox 360 held six top titles and seven top 10 console game titles.
Neither Nintendo nor Sony issued press releases on the NPD figures, which we usually receive if one is issued.Konami - Metal Gear Sold V: Ground Zeroes sold in the US Japan has seen 340k sold. Digital #'s unknown.
- Titanfall (XBO, PC)
- inFAMOUS Second Son (PS4)
- South Park: The Stick Of Truth (360, PS3, PC)
- Call Of Duty: Ghosts (360, PS4, PS3, XBO, NWU, PC)
- Dark Souls II (PS3, 360)
- Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS4, XBO, PS3, 360) (278,000 with 204,000 on PS4/Xbox One))
- NBA 2K14 (360, PS4, PS3, XBO, PC)
- Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster (PS3, PSV) (208,000)
- The LEGO Movie Videogame (360, PS3, 3DS, NWU, XBO, PS4, PSV)
- Minecraft (360)