The PlayStation 4 continues on its four-month streak as the best-selling video game console in the U.S., while Respawn's 'Titanfall' is the top-selling game for the second month in a row.
In a report released Friday, the NPD Group said Sony's PS4 outpaced Microsoft's Xbox One in the sales race yet again. Sony has not yet released any figures but Microsoft confirmed that it has sold 115,000 Xbox One consoles and 71,000 Xbox 360s in April. Last month, Microsoft announced that it has shipped an accumulated total of more than 5 million consoles to retailers all over the world, but did not specify how many of these were sold to consumers. In contrast, Sony said it has put 7 million consoles in the hands of customers since it began shipping its PlayStation hardware.
Microsoft hopes to boost its Xbox One sales by getting rid of a $100 price advantage of the PS4 and releasing a Kinect-less version of the console, which will be available in June for $399.
However, despite Microsoft's struggle to overtake Sony in the console race, the NPD Group paints a rosy bigger picture for the video game industry in general.
"Hardware experienced a solid 76% growth over April 2013, driven by console hardware sales which increased by 120% in April 2014 over last year. Life to date, sales of PS4 and Xbox One hardware have more than doubled the combined sales of PS3 and 360 hardware through their first six months of sales," says NPD analyst Liam Callahan.
As per the NPD report, gamers spent a total of $580.3 million in April alone to buy gaming hardware and software at brick-and-mortar stores. The figure is up by 17% from 495.3 million last month. The PS4 and Xbox One combined accounted for a total of $192.8 million in sales, up from $109.5 million last month, based on the report. It is important to note that the NPD Group doesn't provide the entire picture as its study did not include sales from online and digital stores.
On the software side, "Titanfall," which is made exclusive for the Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC, continued to reign supreme as the best-selling video game in April even as Sucker Punch Productions' "Infamous: Second Son" dropped out of the top 10 completely. Experts believe the hold of "Titanfall" on the chart's top spot is due to the game's delayed release for the Xbox 360.
Still, "Infamous" did well, at least when we're talking about the PS4 and Xbox One. Guy Longworth, senior vice president of PlayStation brand marketing said "Infamous" remains the top-selling "new-gen" title in April.
The complete list of the 10 best-selling gaming titles in April includes the following:
1. "Titanfall"
2. "Call of Duty: Ghosts"
3. "NBA 2K14"
4. "Minecraft"
5. "Lego: The Hobbit"
6. "The Lego Movie Videogame"
7. "Lego Marvel Super Heroes"
8. "The Amazing Spider-Man 2"
9. "Grand Theft Auto V"
10. "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag"
Monthly sales of video games for consoles dropped 10% to $227.9 million from $254.3 million in April last year.
