Nintendo Switch’s unprecedented sales success continued through the end of its 12th month, but Sony’s PlayStation 4 outsold its competition in February. The NPD Group released its monthly game-industry report today, and it has found that console hardware across the board continues to fly off shelves.
“Sony’s PlayStation 4 was the best-selling console in February,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said today. “And it remains the best-selling console year to date.”
Once again, this doesn’t mean that Microsoft’s Xbox is in trouble. Piscatella points out that Microsoft’s and Nintendo’s consoles drove most of the 55-percent year-over-year sales growth to $316 million last month.
All three consoles hitting different audiences — or even overlapping with gaming-crazy big spenders — is why so far in 2018 spending on hardware has grown 79 percent to $594 million compared to the same period in 2017.
And when we talk hardware sales, we have to talk about the Switch.
“Nintendo Switch remains on a record-setting sales pace,” said Piscatella. “Over the first twelve months in market, Nintendo Switch has achieved the highest installed base for a console platform in history.”
So as I said last month, the console-hardware space is vibrant and health. On a historic level, this is maybe the strongest trio of active consoles ever.