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PS4 is best-selling console again in May as game sales swell 52%

Published Jun 17th, 2014 11:24AM EDT
Video Game Sales

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As the previous console generation stretched into its eighth year, game sales had nearly slowed to a halt. It took the release of the PS4 and Xbox One to begin the recovery process, but May 2014 represents the first period in six months that software sales haven’t seen a decline. In fact, total video game sales were up 52% from May 2013, owing to both a 95% growth in hardware sales and the release of Watch Dogs and Mario Kart 8.

“After 6 months of declines, software rebounded in May 2013 driven by new launches such as Watch_Dogs, Mario Kart 8, Wolfenstein: The New Order, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Kirby: Triple Deluxe.”

If you had any doubt that Mario Kart 8 could be a console seller in its own right, the Wii U racing game was the second best-selling title in May after releasing in the United States on May 30th. After being on sale for 48 hours, Mario Kart 8 topped every new game on the market other than Watch Dogs. As a result, the Wii U saw a much-needed year-over-year growth.

All in all, last month was a positive sign for the entire industry, but Sony was the biggest winner as the PS4 led hardware sales for the fifth consecutive month. Even the PS Vita had a good month on the back of the new Borderlands 2 hardware bundle.

This was another huge month for games, and as the release schedule begins to fill out later in the year, we should expect to see some repeat performances.

For more on what to expect from the PS4 and Xbox One this year, check out our coverage from last week’s E3 conference!

Jacob Siegal
Jacob Siegal Associate Editor

Jacob Siegal is Associate Editor at BGR, having joined the news team in 2013. He has over a decade of professional writing and editing experience, and helps to lead our technology and entertainment product launch and movie release coverage.