While things are going the Xbox One’s way so far in November, the PlayStation 4 dominated yet again in October 2014, with the NPD confirming that the PS4 was the top-selling console in the US for the entire month. Its win in October marks the 10th-straight month defeating the Xbox One.
Looking at overall sales numbers, the industry as a whole sold $790.7 million, which is down less than 1% compared to October 2013. For each category, people spent $273.5 million (up 59%) on new hardware, $359.2 million on new games (down 28%; includes PC), and $166.8 million on accessories (up 22%).
As NPD analyst Liam Callahan explains it, new-gen hardware is doing really well:
October 2014 marks the first 12 months of sales for the Xbox One and PS4; and after the first year, these consoles have had a great start as cumulative sales are currently over 70 percent higher than the combined first year totals of Xbox 360 and PS3.
Hardware sales of eighth generation consoles represent close to 80 percent of dollar sales this month driving overall consoles sales to increase by 186 percent over October 2013.
Looking at software, he talked about the continued decline of last-gen sales:
Declines in software this month were driven by further declines of seventh generation software, which were not fully offset by gains in eighth generation consoles. New launch performance was also soft as games that launched this month sold 42 percent fewer units than the games that launched in October 2013. Despite, however, the declines in sales this month of seventh generation software, research from our quarterly Games Market Dynamics: U.S. showed that usage of seventh generation consoles across Q3’14 is still larger than that of eighth generation consoles.
There was some good news for The Evil Within, as the NPD notes that it set a first-month sales record for a survival-horror game.
Here’s the top 10 selling games in October 2014, which totals retail sales across all systems and includes Collectors Editions, GOTY Editions, and bundles, but not those bundled with hardware (sales by platform are ranked in brackets from highest-selling to least-selling):
- NBA 2K15 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)
- Super Smash Bros. for 3DS (3DS)
- The Evil Within (PS4, Xbox One, PS3, 360, PC)
- Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (360, PS3, PC)
- Destiny (360, Xbox One, PS4, PS3)
- Skylanders: Trap Team (360, Wii, Wii U, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, 3DS, mobile)
- FIFA 15 (PS4, 360, PS3, Xbox One, Wii, PS Vita, 3DS)
- Madden NFL 15 (360, PS4, PS3, Xbox One)
- Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS4, XBox One, PC)
- Minecraft (360, PS3, PS4)
Do you think the PS4 will win in November? Or is the Xbox One going to take this month?
[Source: Venture Beat, Games Industry]
