NPD Deccember 2013: Xbox One Wins Next Gen Hardware Battle, 3DS Biggest Winner

The NPD results for December, 2013, shows the Xbox brand winning the month, with Xbox One selling 908,000 units, while Xbox 360 sold 643,000 units, a combined amount of 1,551,000 consoles.

“We’re grateful for the excitement and support of our fans – many purchasing their next Xbox console and many joining the Xbox family for the first time,” said Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of marketing, strategy and business for Xbox. “Our journey is just starting, with more innovation, games and entertainment coming in 2014 and far beyond.”

In terms of sales, however, the 3DS dominated all, and Nintendo Wii U saw one of its best months since launch, selling about half a million units, not great results but certainly not dismal.

As for PS4, it remained the bestselling console of 2013 in the U.S., and was only topped by Xbox One, analysts say, because of availability and Sony’s focus on a worldwide release as compared to solely focusing on the U.S. market. Even now it’s hard to find a PS4 in the U.S. — or anywhere for that matter, so Sony has to do a better job at supplying units to keep up with demand. But that’s the best problem to have. In fact, it has been made known that PS4 sold only about 45,000 less units than Xbox One in the U.S. in December.

“According to the latest NPD report, PlayStation 4 remains the cumulative leader for next gen console sales in the US since the launch on November 15,” said Sony’s senior director of corporate communications, Dan Race.

“We sold every PS4 available at retail in the US 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,” added Race.

On the software front, Call of Duty: Ghosts was the bestselling game followed by Battlefield 4, Just Dance 2014, Madden NFL 25 and others. For the year, however, Grand Theft Auto V was the bestselling title, followed by Call of Duty: Ghosts, Madden NFL 25, Battlefield 4, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, NBA 2k14 and others. Below is a screengrab of the top ten selling titles for December, and the top ten for the year 2013.

 

December’s results were pretty much expected, with anecdotal evidence pointing towards a par for the course month, but the interesting results will be January’s, when a lot of the hardcore who wanted a next-gen console would have already purchased one, leaving the field to mostly casuals looking for an upgrade. It’ll be interesting to see how the new consoles fare then.