Microsoft's Xbox One has ended Sony PlayStation 4's streak of topping sales for 11 consecutive months. Drawing upon data released by research firm NPD Group, Microsoft announced that its latest-generation video game system is the best-selling console in the United States and United Kingdom last month.
In a statement released to IGN, Xbox corporate vice president for marketing Mike Nichols confirmed that the Xbox One rang in more sales than any other console in the U.S. Although he declined to provide specific figures, Nichols says the Xbox One set a new sales record last month.
"Response to the holiday lineup of games on Xbox One was incredible, with Xbox One fans buying more games in November in the U.S. than any other gen-eight platform and enjoying over 357 million hours of gameplay globally," Nichols says. "In fact, more fans logged into Xbox Live across Xbox One and Xbox 360, and enjoyed more entertainment, than any other month in the history of Xbox."
Xbox One's changing fortunes is likely the result of a combination of Microsoft's aggressive price slashing and bundling the console with a host of highly popular games. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced two price cuts for the Xbox One, the first one involving the unbundling of Kinect and bringing the price down to $399 and the second one down to $349 to effectively undercut the PlayStation 4's $399 price tag.
Black Friday also saw Microsoft dropping prices to as low as $329 at certain retail stores, while throwing in bundled games including "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare," "Assassin's Creed Unity" and "Sunset Overdrive." The move gave Microsoft a much-needed leg up in the console wars, as Xbox One accounted for more than half of all Black Friday video game system sales, while PlayStation 4 only took over less than one-third.
In a statement sent to Tech Times, NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan says bundles such as those offered by Microsoft last month contributed to the increase in console hardware unit sales.
"Hardware bundles were a major factor in the sales of hardware this November, with a number of new bundles ranking as the highest selling hardware bundles so far this year with one bundle ranking as the highest selling hardware bundle ever based on dollar sales," Callahan said.
However, as Callahan notes, last month's hardware sales declined by $294 million from the same period last year. The drop, he says, is likely due to expected drop in seventh-gen console sales, but latest-gen consoles also accounted for 38 percent of the total hardware decline. Still, Callahan says hardware unit sales for eighth-gen consoles increased by 3 percent last month.
He also adds that sales of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 combined make up 80 percent higher sales than the older Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 combined 13 months after they were launched.
While Microsoft topped last month's sales, it still has a lot to catch up on as Sony's 11-month leading streak gives it an estimated 13.5 million PlayStation 4 units sold globally while Microsoft's Xbox One has sold around half of that amount.
