Xbox One console sales managed to outpace those of the PlayStation 4 during the month of December in the United States, the NPD Group has reported.
While Microsoft's new gaming machine reigned supreme last month, Sony's console is still the overall leader in terms of next-gen console sales in the region. Dan Race, Senior Director of Corporate Communications at SCEA, provided us with the following statement:
According to the latest NPD report, PlayStation 4 remains the cumulative leader for next gen console sales in the U.S. since the launch on November 15. We sold every PS4 available at retail in the U.S. and were out of stock in December due to overwhelming consumer demand. With more than 4.2 million PS4 systems sold worldwide, it’s clear that the PS4’s gaming and entertainment features are resonating with large audiences and we’re doing our best to provide additional inventory in all of the 53 countries where it’s available.
As far as overall hardware sales are concerned, it should come as no surprise that Nintendo's handheld was the top seller of 2013, and that goes for the month of December, too. There's just no stopping that little 3D-powered device.
What do you make of the console sales results? I'd imagine that PlayStation 4 would have sold even better if Sony was able to keep shelves stocked. It's clear Microsoft's high supply of Xbox Ones during the month of December gave its console the edge over PS4 simply because there weren't enough PlayStation units to go around.
I can't wait to see how this healthy competition in the console space shakes out in the months and years ahead.
