Microsoft’s herculean efforts over the holidays were enough to temporarily push the Xbox One to the top of the charts, but now that the dust has settled, the equilibrium seems to be shifting back in Sony’s direction. Following the release of The NPD Group’s latest report, SCEA informed the press that the PlayStation 4 was the best-selling console in January.
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That’s not to say that January was an especially noteworthy month for hardware sales as a whole. As The NPD Group’s Liam Callahan notes:
“Hardware sales declined by 23 percent as sales cooled off after the holiday season. Eighth generation console hardware sales were down by 22 percent while seventh generation console hardware sales decreased by 35 percent.”
This is typically the case following a busy holiday season, but the cumulative sales up to this point are still significantly higher than they were over the same period of the previous generation.
And it wasn’t all bad news for Microsoft either. Xbox marketing corporate VP Mike Nichols says that the Xbox One received “more game sales per console than any other platform.” That might have something to do with the abundance of bundles, but it’s an achievement nevertheless.
Software sales were up year-over-year, with Dying Light leading the pack. In fact, the new Warner Bros. IP “had the highest first month of sales for new IP in the Survival Horror genre.”
Not many surprises in January, but the release schedule has slowed to a halt. Once the exclusives start piling up throughout February and March, the two major consoles will have a chance to separate themselves once again.
