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NPD: PS4 Leads In December, FF XV Has A Great Debut
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
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
- Final Fantasy XV
- Battlefield 1
- Madden NFL 17
- NBA 2K17
- Watch Dogs 2
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Pokémon: Sun (neither Pokémon title includes digital sales)
- FIFA 17
- Pokémon: Moon
NPD Top 10 Games For 2016
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
- Battlefield 1
- The Division
- NBA 2K17
- Madden NFL 17
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Overwatch (not including sales from battle.net)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III
- FIFA 17
- Final Fantasy XV
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 Take
It'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.
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