November NPD numbers have revealed that sales of Microsoft’s Xbox One in the US and UK surpassed those of PlayStation 4 during the four-week period for the first time since December 2013.
This boon in sales is largely thanks to a strong Black Friday for the console, after Microsoft slashed the asking price of the hardware by $50, coupled with the release of some heavy-hitting exclusives like Sunset Overdrive and Halo: The Master Chief Collection.
Mike Nichols, corporate VP of Xbox marketing at Microsoft, shared his pride and excitement for the future of the Xbox One in an official statement.
“We are committed to making Xbox the best place to play, with this year’s best games, the best community of gamers to play with, and terrific value. And we are amazed by the excitement Xbox fans have shown to start off this holiday. November set a new record for sales of Xbox One, and Xbox One was the best-selling console in the US and UK.
“Response to the holiday lineup of games on Xbox One was incredible, with Xbox One fans buying more games in November in the U.S. than any other gen eight platform and enjoying over 357 million hours of gameplay globally.”
Quite frankly, these figures are the product of the Xbox One’s building momentum. Following the removal of Kinect as a mandatory peripheral and the aforementioned price drop, Microsoft’s current-gen system quickly began to gain a foothold and close the gap between it and the PlayStation 4, and November’s NPD results are the first tangible sign of that rising demand.
Overall, the report concluded by revealing that “cumulative PS4 and Xbox One sales are now almost 80 percent higher than the combined total of PS3 and Xbox 360 sales after 13 months on the market.” Despite the naysayers, it seems console gaming is still very much alive and well.
