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Sony Corp's PlayStation 4 held the lead in US video-game unit sales in February, while Microsoft Corp's higher-priced Xbox One generated more revenue, researcher NPD Group said.
Spending on video-game hardware increased 42 per cent to $347 million from a year earlier, as players continued to snap up the machines, Port Washington, New York-based NPD said yesterday in an e-mail.
"PS4 led hardware sales in February 2014, but by a narrow margin with Xbox One selling over 90 per cent of what the PS4 sold in terms of unit sales," said Liam Callahan, an NPD analyst. "With Xbox One's higher price point it led hardware sales on a dollar basis."
The results point to tight competition between the consoles as Microsoft and Sony, with their first consoles in seven years, battle each other and a shift toward social and mobile games. Xbox said it could get a boost this month from "Titanfall," an Electronic Arts Inc. shooter that began shipping exclusively on Microsoft consoles this week.
Microsoft sold 258,000 Xbox Ones during the month and 114,000 older Xbox 360s, the Redmond, Washington-based company said in a separate e-mail. Sony dropped 4.2 per cent to 1,761 yen at the close in Tokyo trading, while the Topix index lost 3.2 per cent. Nintendo declined 3.1 per cent and Microsoft yesterday fell 1 per cent.
Total US retail spending on video games, including hardware, software and accessories, rose 9 per cent to $887 million, according to NPD.
"Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze" helped Nintendo Co.'s Wii U home console sales in the US rise about 25 per cent in February from a year earlier, the Kyoto, Japan-based company said in an e-mail, citing NPD figures.
After slashing its full-year forecast for global sales, the company is counting on the upcoming releases of "Mario Kart 8" and "Super Smash Brothers" to keep the console in competition with the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
