Xbox One tops PS4 as April 2015’s best-selling console in U.S.

The Xbox One was announced as the best-selling console in the United States for April 2015, Microsoft confirmed following the NPD Group's release of April 2015's video game sales in the U.S.

"As the best-selling console in the U.S. in April, fans set record April sales and engagement for Xbox One last month. Xbox One console sales in the U.S. increased 63 percent in April 2015 compared to April 2014 and Xbox Live comparisons showed the number of active global users (Xbox One and Xbox 360) grew 24 percent," Microsoft's VP of marketing Mike Nichols said following the NPD Group's report. "We are grateful to our fans for their passion and support and are looking forward to sharing more on the best game lineup in Xbox history at E3."

Despite being outsold by the Xbox One, the PlayStation 4 actually had more software sold. Responding to the dethroning, Sony Computer Entertainment America reminded the world that the PS4 is still ahead of the Xbox One in terms of lifetime sales.

"We would like to thank fans around the world for their continued support of the PS4," the statement reads. "According to NPD, PlayStation continues to lead software sales for April 2015 and PS4 remains the cumulative sales leader in the US. We are looking forward to an amazing E3."

Overall, April 2015's hardware sales decreased by four percent, but that was attributed to a decline in sales for seventh-generation (Xbox 360 and PS3) hardware sales. "Eigth-generation hardware sale were stable, and portable hardware increased by 36 percent," NPD Group's Liam Callahan said. But while hardware sales were up by 12 percent, hardware dollar sales actually decreased by 4 percent, "due to a drop in console hardware pricing."

In the grand scheme of things, it looks like both consoles are enjoying healthy sales. According to Callahan, "After 18 months on the market for Xbox One and PS4, we are seeing cumulative hardware sales over 50 percent higher than the combined sales of Xbox 360 and PS3 at the same point in their lifecycles.”

Bottom line, for the month of April 2015, overall sales across hardware, new physical software, and accessories grew by 3 percent over April 2014.