The Xbox One has taken the top spot in the US sales charts for April.
While Sony’s PlayStation 4 temporarily held the number one sales position in March, Microsoft revealed in a statement from corporate VP of marketing Mike Nichols that Xbox sales increased significantly over the previous year.
“As the best-selling console in the U.S. in April, fans set record April sales and engagement for Xbox One last month. Xbox One console sales in the U.S. increased 63 percent in April 2015 compared to April 2014 and Xbox Live comparisons showed the number of active global users (Xbox One and Xbox 360) grew 24 percent. 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.”
Despite having higher sales numbers for the month, the larger number of software sales went to the PlayStation 4. Sony, in its own statement regarding the NPD, also pointed out that it remains the number one console in overall sales. A representative for SCEA wrote in a statement to GameSpot, “According to NPD, PlayStation continues to lead software sales for April 2015 and PS4 remains the cumulative sales leader in the US. We are looking forward to an amazing E3.”
Direct comparison between Sony and Microsoft’s console worldwide are a little difficult; while Sony has revealed that the PS4 has sold over 22 million units to date, Microsoft combines both the 360 and Xbox One when reporting on its financials.
The NPD Group’s Liam Callahan noted that for April 2015, that “hardware sales decreased by 4 percent due to the 55 percent decline in sales of seventh-generation console hardware [Xbox 360 and PS3].” However he noted that current-gen console sales were “stable” and “portable hardware increased by 36 percent.”
While the recent trend toward deals and discounts undoubtedly helped Microsoft’s console pull ahead, Callahan writes that it has started to have an effect on sales numbers. “Declines in hardware dollar sales were due to a decrease in average price of 4 percent, due to a drop in console hardware pricing.” Back in January the Xbox One permanently fell to $350. The PlayStation 4 continues to retail for around $400.
The Xbox One and PS4 have both been out for 18 months now, and, in a postive note, Callahan writes that, “cumulative hardware sales [are] over 50 percent higher than the combined sales of Xbox 360 and PS3 at the same point in their lifecycles.”
While Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS showed up in the April NPD physical retail top 10, Nintendo did not send out a separate release commenting on its April sales.
In a month of few huge, new releases, the number one selling game for April went to Mortal Kombat X followed by the unsurprisingly successful Grand Theft Auto V.
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