The lights are on
Sony's PS4 was tabbed by the NPD industry sales trackers as the number-one selling console for the month, holding back the Xbox One. Microsoft's system sold 10 percent more as compared to the same time last year.
Regarding the overall hardware category, despite the existence of the PS4 Pro and Xbox One S, the hardware category declined in 2016 to $3.7 billion compared to 2015 – that's a 24 percent shrink. Also factoring in is that consoles sold for less on average, but this didn't make consumers any more likely to buy them. Consumers bought seven percent fewer units.
On the other hand, the Nintendo 3DS handheld grew two percent in the month as compared a year ago – the seventh straight month of year-on-year growth.
On the software side, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare slid in at number one after releasing on November 4, and Final Fantasy XV (above) – having come out later in the month on November 29 grabbed the second spot. Other debuts include Pokémon Sun & Moon and Watch Dogs 2.
Final Fantasy XV was the PS4's best selling game, and represents the best-selling launch month for the franchise since tracking began in 1995. It even grabbed the number 10 software spot for the entire year.
NPD Top 10 Games for December
NPD Top 10 Games For 2016
For the year as a whole, the NPD says that video game industry in the U.S. generate $30.4 billion. This is up from 2015's $30.2 billion. The software category grew six percent from 2015.
Note: The text originally stated that Microsoft's Xbox One led console sales last month when it didn't. We apologize for the error. It has been corrected.
Our TakeIt's interesting that the PS4 Pro and Xbox One sales didn't seem to stem the revenue decline compared to 2015. Whether this signals overall consumer disinterest remains to be seen.
Email the author Matthew Kato, or follow on Twitter, and Game Informer.
I'm glad to see Final Fantasy XV doing so well. I love it!
So do those numbers mean Square won't cancel any future FF developments because I remember that people were freaking out and saying something like if the game doesn't sell well enough then that's it for the franchise.
At first i was thinking this was a mistake but then i remembered that pokemon versions sales are separate. P.s congrats to final fantasy 15 for making it in there in only one month
Good for Sony. I might be buying a 4K TV soon, so the PS4 Pro may also be on the horizon as well.
Good to see MS sales increasing year to year. Not that it matters they sold less than PS4 but it was obvious when they only said they were the only console to see sales growth year to year and not mention leading in sales. They would have if they were in the lead.
I had picked up an extra S model during the sales after selling a launch console. Nice console for 4k movies. I am currently waiting on Scorpio but it appears that MS is going all UWP. And the games should all work in PC/Xbox which is what MS is pushing for. In that case I would not need the console at all. As long as Live keeps working on PC I can just play with family/friends on Xbox from there. It really feels like MS is going for a full end of the console generation and pushing this hard. If they can get all games working UWP and they will scale across Xbox One/Scorpio/PC and you can play on any platform that is a win.
Congrats FFXV