A year on from the near-simultaneous launches of Sony’s PlayStation 4 and Microsoft’s Xbox One, it seems as if reports of console gaming’s death might be greatly exaggerated, though publishers have their work cut out for them if they want to mount a full-throated comeback.
New data from The NPD Group on Statista shows video game hardware sales in the United States posting positive year-over-year growth for the first time in several years, its march into green territory matching up with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One’s competitively-timed November 2013 launches. (Nintendo’s November 2012 Wii U release failed to reverse hardware sales losses, though November still represented 2012’s smallest monthly loss.)
The PlayStation 4 continues to dominate in terms of total next-gen consoles sold and market share, making Sony good for three wins in the last four installments of the Console Wars so far; actual sales figures are unavailable from the NPD Group, and the manufacturers themselves aren’t telling. It also remains to be seen whether Microsoft’s recently-announced holiday Xbox One price cuts will rescue them from a long spell in second place.
Game publishers have no choice but to adjust to the realities of digital distribution as physical software sales continue to decline. Physical software sales, according to NPD, are down 28 percent from last year due to a relatively small pool of next-gen titles, consumer embrace of digital content (a recent VentureBeat report suggests one out of every five copies of best-selling Destiny are digital), and a sharp dropoff in last-gen software sales. Though increased consumer spending, fast-growing next-gen installation total, and impressive sales figures for top-performing titles might paint a rosy picture for console manufacturers, it’s quite clear that the digital takeover is here and in full force.
