NPD: Sales of PS4, Xbox One Software 'A Great Start'

13 Mar, 2014 By: Chris Tribbey

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Total video game software sales were down 11% in February to $328 million (down from $370 million a year ago), but overall gaming spending rose 9% to $887 million, thanks to new video game hardware spending (up 42% to $347 million), according to data from The NPD Group.

“Within console hardware, we continue to see strong year-over-year increases due to the success of the Xbox One and PS4,” said The NPD Group’s Liam Callahan. “PS4 led hardware sales in February 2014, but by a narrow margin, with Xbox One selling over 90% of what the PS4 sold in terms of unit sales. However, with Xbox One’s higher price point it led hardware sales on a dollar basis.”

The majority of hardware platforms experienced double- to triple-digit increases compared with January 2014, and in February, retail video game sales across hardware, software and accessories grew 9% over February 2013.

“PS4 and Xbox One software sales are off to a great start through February 2014,” Callahan said. “When compared to the combined first four month sales for the Xbox 360 and the PS3, software sales for the Xbox One and PS4 thorough month four are up 80%.”

Any drops in software came from declining software sales for the previous generation of consoles, including the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. February did see positive software sales for Nintendo’s 3DS and the Wii U.

“Unlike the last few months where declines stemmed from the performance of new launches relative to last year, February 2014 launches were on par with those launching in February 2013 on a unit basis with only 1% fewer sales,” Callahan said.

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