According to the U.S. Games Industry Sales analysis by The NPD Group’s Liam Callahan, February hardware sales increased by 42 percent over the prior year, due to a more than 60 percent increase in console hardware sales. These strong year-over-year increases are due to the success of the Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
The analysis also showed that total video game sales in February were $887 million, a change of 9 percent compared to February 2013. This is credited to strong growth in hardware and a slight rise in accessory sales. Total software sales—across the console, portable, and PC categories—were $328 million in February, a decline of 11 percent year-over-year.
Accessory sales rose by 3 percent in February versus February of last year, due to positive sales of interactive toys and gamepads, as well as video game point and subscription cards.
Taking into consideration other physical format sales such as used and rentals, as well as NPD’s estimate for digital format sales, the total consumer spend in February is estimated to be $1.47 billion.
