February was a good month for games, with strong sales for almost everybody regardless of platform.
For overall console sales, the NPD reports, “PS4 led hardware sales in February 2014, but by a narrow margin with Xbox One selling over 90% of what the PS4 sold in terms of unit sales. However, with Xbox One’s higher price point it led hardware sales on a dollar basis.”
And Microsoft also clarified specific numbers in a separate press release stating that the Xbox One sold 258,000 consoles “surpassing Xbox 360 sales by over 61 percent at the same point in time.” Microsoft also wrote that, combining the 360 and Xbox One, “The Xbox platform sold more hardware than any other home console platform,” which would put it above the PS3/Vita/PS4 and Wii U/3DS combinations.
But regardless of the spin, it’s good news for both companies. The NPD wrote, “Within console hardware, we continue to see strong year-over-year increases due to the success of the Xbox One and PS4,” and “The majority of hardware platforms experienced double-to-triple digit increases compared to January 2014.”
Software sales were also very positive; the NPD reported that game sales for both the Xbox One and PS4 were up 80% “when compared to the combined first four-month sales for the Xbox 360 and the PS3.”
Despite strong sales of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, which Nintendo reported earlier, the NPD clarified that the game “did not rank in the top ten when looking at title-level sales.”
February 2014 Top 10 Games (New physical retail only across all platforms, including PC)
- Call Of Duty: Ghosts (Activision Blizzard)
- The LEGO Movie Videogame (Warner Bros. Interactive)
- NBA 2K14 (Take 2 Interactive)
- Thief (Square Enix)
- Grand Theft Auto V (Take 2 Interactive)
- Battlefield 4 (EA)
- Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (Ubisfot)
- Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII (Square Enix)
- Minecraft (360–Microsoft)
- Bravely Default (Nintendo)
On the accessories front, sales were positive as well. The NPD reports that point and subscription cards were the highest selling cards for the month, though there was no information on what console or title those cards applied to specifically.
Justin Haywald is a senior editor at GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @JustinHaywald Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com |