Along with their December 2014 report, the NPD also did a report for the entire year of 2014, revealing that overall industry sales were up 1% compared to 2013, finishing at $13.1 billion. The major factor for the uptick was hardware, which rose 20% to $5.07 billion, whereas software fell 13% to $5.3 billion, with accessories up 5% to $2.73 billion.
NPD analyst Liam Callahan talked about some of the trends he’s seeing:
Keep in mind that the results for December and 2014 as a whole show the console space is going through a period of two transitions: One being a generational transition from seventh generation to eighth generation consoles and second, a format transition as console gamers become more comfortable with downloading games and what is being offered digitally.
He added, “After 14 months on the market, cumulative sales of PS4 and Xbox One exceed the Xbox 360 and PS3 cumulative 14 month total by 65%.”
Here’s the top 10 selling games in all of 2014 in the United States, which totals retail sales (digital isn’t tracked by the NPD yet) across all systems and includes Collectors Editions, GOTY Editions, and bundles, but not those bundled with hardware (sales by platform are ranked in brackets from highest-selling to least-selling):
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS4, PS3, PC)
- Madden NFL 15 (Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, PS3)
- Destiny (Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3)
- Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
- Minecraft (Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4)
- Super Smash Bros. (3DS, Wii U)
- NBA 2K15 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)
- Watch Dogs (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC, Wii U)
- FIFA 15 (360, PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Wii, 3DS, PS Vita)
- Call of Duty: Ghosts (360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, Wii U, PC)
What do you think about the Xbox One version of Destiny outselling the PS4 version? Are you surprised by the lack of Assassin’s Creed in the top 10?
[Source: Games Industry]
