NPD: April Video Game Sales Inched Up 3%

15 May, 2015 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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April sales of new-release video games rose 3% to $595.7 million, driven by Warner Bros.’s Mortal Kombat X. Software sales, less new releases, spiked 13% to $256.7 million, according to new data from The NPD Group.

For new physical console software, eighth-generation consoles sales grew 200% in revenue, which offset declines from seventh-generation consoles of 62%, and portable declines of 32%. Overall, console software increased by 20%, leading to overall video game software growth of 13%.

Hardware sales dipped 4% to $183.9 million. Accessories dropped 3% to $155.1 million.

“April hardware sales decreased … due to the 55% decline in sales of seventh-generation console hardware. Eighth-generation console hardware sales were stable, and portable hardware increased by 36%,” NPD Group’s Liam Callahan said in a statement.

On a unit basis, hardware sales grew by 12%. Declines in hardware dollar sales were due to a decrease in average price of 4%, due to a drop in console hardware pricing.

After 18 months on the market for Xbox One and PS4, NPD said cumulative hardware sales are more than 50% higher than the combined sales of Xbox 360 and PS3 at the same point in their lifecycles.

Xbox One console sales in the U.S. increased 63% in April compared to the same period in 2014. Xbox Live comparisons showed the number of active global users (Xbox One and Xbox 360) grew 24%.

“We are grateful to our fans for their passion and support and are looking forward to sharing more on the best game lineup in Xbox history at E3,” Mike Nichols, VP, Xbox marketing at Microsoft, said in a statement.

 

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