The monthly retail sales for the United States in the month of March have just come in via the NPD group, and although a couple of games had a strong month, the industry as a whole has started to slump off a bit. New hardware sales dropped a whopping 21% when compared to March of 2014, which might be attributed to this being a slightly slower time of year for new releases, or maybe the majority of people willing to buy new consoles at their current price point have already done so and the rest are simply waiting on a price cut or a new (perhaps smaller) model.
As for software, Battlefield Hardline surprised no one by coming out on top, selling best on Xbox and PS4. Speaking of PS4, its new flagship and very well-reviewed exclusive, Bloodborne, came in at number two and sold over a million units. As for the rest, Advanced Warfare remained in the top five, and Borderlands: The Handsome Collection entered at number nine. The complete top ten software list is just below.
- Battlefield: Hardline (Xbox One, PlayStation 4, 360, PS3, PC)
- Bloodborne (PS4)
- Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3)
- Mario Party 10 (Wii U) (sold 290,000 copies physical and digital, according to Nintendo)
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)
- MLB 15: The Show (PS4, PS3)
- Minecraft (360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4)
- NBA 2K15 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)
- Borderlands: The Handsome Collection (PS4, Xbox One)
- Final Fantasy: Type 0 HD (PS4, Xbox One)
Source: VentureBeat
Starman
Last March was when the titanfall xb1 bundle released which I think gave a big boost to sales so that probably explains the lower sales this year.
JR.
Didn’t the PS4 still outsell the XB1 that month?
Starman
Yeah I’m just explaining the OVERALL drop. PS4 had infamous last march & Bloodborne this time so I expect PS4 sales were more consistent.
beeje13
And Titanfall was released earlier in the month last year.
I think demand and baseline sales for both next gen consoles has not gone down at all, slightly higher if anything.
JR.
I think the sales dip is to be expected. Like any other new product on the market, demand was still there for all the new consoles in March 14 (they were only 5 months old at that point). They need to focus on releasing some iconic/classic/memorable games if they want sales to pick up. I don’t think we’re had any so far this gen (on any platform).
beeje13
Sales are still really high, X1’s low weeks/months are still higher than last year. PS4 slightly down in the US to the point where X1 is almost equal, but sales in Japan (for PS4, not for X1) have picked up really well now.
What I’d love to see is how they are both doing in China.