U.S. sales of the Xbox One and Playstation 4 hit record-highs last month.
The NPD Group reported its monthly console sales data today and noted that December marked the best month to date for PS4 and Xbox One unit sales in the U.S.
Both Microsoft and Sony offered a handful of console bundle deals this holiday season, going as low as $299 for not only the console but also a bundled game. Both currently retail for $349.
Sony ended up beating Microsoft for total U.S. console sales in December for the seventh time in the past eight months.
At CES, Sony CEO Kaz Hirai said that the company sold 5.7 million PS4 consoles during the holiday season around the world, and has now sold 35.9 million PS4 consoles worldwide since launch.
Sony has outpaced Microsoft for current generation worldwide console sales since the PS4 and Xbox One debuted in November 2013. The company reached 18.5 million PS4 consoles sold one year ago, meaning it sold another 17.4 million devices in 2015.
As of this fiscal year, Microsoft is no longer disclosing Xbox unit sales as part of its quarterly earnings reports. However, the company said Xbox Live active users grew 28 percent to 39 million in the September quarter. Also, on Dec. 28 there were more gamers using Xbox Live than any other day in Xbox history.
NPD also noted today that “after 26 months of sales, the combined cumulative sales of Xbox One and PS4 exceeds the 26 month total of the PS3 and Xbox 360 by 47 percent.”
As far as the console competition with Sony, Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, sat down for a fireside chat at the GeekWire Summit this past September and offered some insight into Microsoft’s early missteps with the Xbox One launch and the ongoing battle with Sony. Spencer said he doesn’t pay as much attention to the sales race with Sony and other competitors now, which is a key mindset shift from when Microsoft launched the Xbox One.
Here were the top-selling games from December 2015, including PC (NPD only counts physical software sales):
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III
- Star Wars Battlefront 2015
- Fallout 4
- Madden NFL 16
- NBA 2K16
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
- Minecraft
- Minecraft: Story Mode – A Telltale Game Series
- FIFA 16
Update: Here are statements from Microsoft and Sony:
Microsoft:
“Thanks to our fans, continued support for the most critically-acclaimed holiday lineup of exclusives in Xbox history made December 2015 the best month yet for Xbox Live global engagement and Xbox One sales in the U.S. The total number of hours spent gaming on Xbox One worldwide nearly doubled compared to December 2014 and Xbox One exclusive game sales in the U.S. between July and December 2015 were up 61 percent compared to the same period in 2014. Revenue from Xbox Store’s Countdown, the biggest Xbox Store sale ever, broke records with 69 percent growth year-over-year when compared to results from last year’s sale. Xbox One is the best place for gamers and the only console that has all top 10 best-selling titles of this generation that launched in 2015. With an incredible catalog of first-party and third-party games on Xbox One and available through Xbox One Backward Compatibility, 2015 was a tremendous year for gamers, and we’re looking forward to making 2016 an even better one.” — Mike Nichols, Corporate Vice President, Xbox Marketing, Microsoft
Sony:
“As we reflect on an amazing year, we want to thank fans and partners for making PlayStation 4 the top selling console in December and in 2015. PS4 also had the strongest third-party software sales in 2015 in the U.S., according to NPD. The momentum and enthusiasm for the platform continued throughout the year, resulting in cumulative sales of more than 35.9 million since the launch of PS4. During the holiday season alone, more than 5.7 million PS4s and 35 million PS4 games were sold through to consumers worldwide. We look forward to another great year and bringing an extensive portfolio of games from our publisher partners and SCE Worldwide Studios to fans in 2016.” — Sony Computer Entertainment America spokesperson
