NPD Group has announced November 2015's U.S. video game sales, revealing Sony's PlayStation 4 to be the top-selling console in the United States for the month. This is a flip from last year, in which the Xbox One outsold the PS4 during the holiday season, one of the few times Microsoft's console bested Sony's in terms of sales.
Attractive Black Friday discounts, which saw PS4 and Xbox One bundles at their lowest prices yet, can likely be attributed for what NPD Group said was the "best month ever" in total unit sales for 8th generation consoles, which includes the Xbox One, PS4, and Wii U.
According to Sony, Black Friday sales were the "strongest in PlayStation history," helping November 2015 become the "biggest month ever for PlayStation Store." Sony took the opportunity to reiterate that total PS4 sales are now in excess of 30.2 million.
Microsoft didn't provide updated numbers, but comment on November's sales.
“Last month was our best November ever in the U.S. for Xbox One, setting new records for console sales, game sales and Xbox Live engagement," the statement reads. "The most critically-acclaimed holiday lineup of exclusives in Xbox history helped drive 44 percent growth in Xbox Live hours over last November, and 72 percent growth in U.S. first-party retail game sales comparing sales from August through November in 2015 to the same period last year."
Hardware dollars sales during November 2015 increased by 11 percent compared to November 2014 as units rose 9 percent. NPD noted 14 percent growth in console hardware sales, which was offset by a 31 percent decline in portable hardware sales.
“Within console hardware sales there were dramatic differences by console generation as 8th generation console sales rose by 22 percent in dollars, 7th generation sales dropped by 76% in dollars, which is sharper than the year-to-date decline of 57 percent," NPD Group's Liam Callahan revealed. "In November 2015, 8th generation sales had 93 percent share of overall hardware sales, a 9 percentage point increase from last November.”
Combined PS4 and Xbox One sales are now 47 percent higher than the combined sales of PS3 and Xbox 360 hardware sales at the same point in their lifecycle (25 months).
