March video game sales estimates for the U.S. have been released by market research firm NPD and it appears that Microsoft’s investment in the highly-marketed Titanfall has paid off – for publisher EA, that is.
The March sales estimates show that Titanfall sales for Xbox One and PC combined to be the best-selling title of the crowded March release season. Sony’s InFAMOUS: Second Son for the PlayStation 4 was the runner-up followed by South Park: The Stick of Truth, Call of Duty: Ghosts, and Dark Souls II. Titanfall, just one month from release, is now the second-highest selling Xbox One title since that console launched in November.
Though the relentless marketing campaign for Titanfall has made the game the top-selling title for March, the game’s success may not have been the Xbox One-selling phenomenon that Microsoft had hoped. By NPD’s estimates Sony still managed to sell more PlayStation 4 consoles in the U.S. than Microsoft did Xbox One consoles in March. This is despite the release of a Titanfall Xbox One bundle that essentially gave the game away with the purchase of the console and despite the fact that many U.S. retailers have been seen discounting the price of the Xbox One.
Just after the NPD numbers were released Microsoft announced that five million Xbox One consoles have been shipped to retailers since November. This puts Microsoft’s console two million in sales behind Sony’s PlayStation 4. Sony announced earlier today that seven million PS4s have been sold-through as of April 6.
The widening gap in sales between Sony and Microsoft’s new platforms aside, hardware sales for the video game industry are looking up. Year-over-year U.S. hardware sales are up 78% according to NPD. Though software sales are down 28% from the same month last year, the quickly-growing install base of the Xbox One and PS4 puts the console market on solid ground for the years to come.
