Once again NPD has good news and bad news for the traditional video game business. Next-gen hardware sales continue to be strong, with hardware sales increasing 78 percent over March 2013. At the same time, software revenue dropped 27 percent over last year. If you add in PC software sales to portable and console software, the decline was even greater – 28 percent. Accessories climbed a mere 4 percent, leading to an overall rise in revenue of only 3 percent over last year for the combination of hardware, software, and accessories.

The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One drove the hardware sales increases. “Sales increases were driven completely by consoles sales, which were up over 100 percent, due mainly to continued success from the PS4 and Xbox One,” said NPD’s Liam Callahan. Despite the launch of Titanfall, the Xbox One was not the best-selling console. “In March 2014, Sony’s PS4 led hardware sales for the third month in a row,” said Callahan. Still, next-gen consoles continued to do better than their predecessors at a similar time from launch. “PS4 and Xbox One continue to see success with cumulative sales of the two consoles through the first five month currently totaling more than double that of their predecessors, the PS3 and Xbox 360,” noted Callahan.

The software side of the business showed continuing weakness, apparent merely by glancing at the list of the top ten best-selling software titles. Titanfall was #1, followed by InFamous: Second Son at #2, with both being next-gen software titles. The message is that current-gen software continues to lag. NPD puts the finger on a slow release schedule. “Software declines in March 2014 stemmed from poor comparisons to new launches from last March,” Callahan said. “Collectively, March 2014 launches sold 42 percent less than March 2013 launches. Last March we saw eight of the top ten games were new launches. This March saw six of the top ten games as new launches.” Still, Callahan noted this:“Year-over-year sales of every platform declined from March 2013, with the exception of the PS Vita which saw sales grow due to the release of Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster.”

There’s no sign of any revival in the Wii U’s fortunes, and the 3DS didn’t have much impact at retail either. Nintendo’s lower pricing for its top five 3DS titles surely must be taken as an indication that sales aren’t exactly breaking records. There’s no sign in general of any revival in current-gen software sales. Perhaps at E3 we will see some reasons to believe current-gen consoles might revive flagging sales, but for now it looks like consumers are squarely focused on the PS4 and the Xbox One when it comes to consoles.

March 2014 Top 10 Games (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms incl. PC)
1. Titanfall (XBO, PC)** Electronic Arts
2. inFAMOUS Second Son (PS4)** Sony
3. South Park: The Stick Of Truth (360, PS3, PC)** Ubisoft
4. Call Of Duty: Ghosts (360, PS4, PS3, XBO, NWU, PC)** Activision Blizzard
5. Dark Souls II (PS3, 360)** Namco Bandai Games
6. Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes (PS4, XBO, PS3, 360)Konami Digital Ent.
7. NBA 2K14 (360, PS4, PS3, XBO, PC)** Take 2 Interactive
8. Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster (PS3, PSV) Square Enix Inc
9. The LEGO Movie Videogame (360, PS3, 3DS, NWU, XBO, PS4, PSV) Warner Bros. Interactive
10. Minecraft (360) Microsoft

**(includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware)