PS4 Tops Console Sales Charts in US June 2015 NPDs

The NPD Group has released its sales report for June, revealing that the PlayStation 4 was the best-selling console last month in the United States as hardware sales for the industry were up overall.

Sony shared a brief statement with GameSpot which cited "the overwhelming popularity of the Batman: Arkham Knight PS4 bundles" for the accomplishment. A special-edition $450 Batman PS4 was released in June alongside Arkham Knight, as was a regular system bundle that included a copy of the game for the usual $400 price.

Sony also noted that PS4 "led software sales in June" and that the system "continues to lead console sales in the U.S. and globally and we would like to thank gamers worldwide for their continued dedication to the PlayStation platform."

PS4 was also the top-selling console in May, following a month in which the Xbox One was number one.

Microsoft's statement on the report noted the 51 percent increase in Xbox One sales over June 2014 and 22 percent bump in Xbox Live users across Xbox One and Xbox 360. Otherwise, it was largely focused on other things.

"Since releasing Xbox One backward compatibility in preview on June 15, participants in the preview program have logged more than 30 million minutes playing Xbox 360 games on Xbox One," said Xbox marketing VP Mike Nichols. "The 2015 Xbox One game lineup was the most awarded lineup in Xbox history at E3, with 242 nominations and 110 award wins.

"And, the new Xbox One 1 TB console was met by a strong response from fans and recently announced bundles launching this fall including the Forza Motorsport 6 limited edition bundle and Gears of War: Ultimate Edition bundle drove additional fan excitement for this holiday's offerings.

"We are grateful to our fans for continuing to choose Xbox One and we are looking forward to sharing more updates on the greatest games lineup in Xbox history at gamescom in Cologne, Germany next month."

As for Nintendo, it told GameSpot that combined sales of Wii U and 3DS are up 20 percent during the first half of 2015 as compared with the first half of 2014. As you'd expect, Nintendo attributed this largely to the New 3DS XL, as 3DS hardware sales are up 40 percent year-over-year.

Hardware sales industry-wide were up eight percent year-over-year to $313.1 million, compared with $291.1 million during the same period last year. NPD analyst Liam Callahan pointed out that it's the latest generation of home consoles that's responsible for that. "Eighth-generation consoles are leading the way with 15 percent growth over June 2014, offsetting declines in seventh-generation and portable hardware sales," he said.

Unsurprisingly, considering how many are available, hardware bundles represented a much larger chunk of overall sales compared to last year. "Hardware bundles gained share of overall hardware sales with 35 percent of sales in June 2014 rising to 82 percent of sales in June 2015," Callahan noted. "June 2015 was especially strong for hardware bundle sales as the 82 percent share of hardware attributed to bundles in June 2015 is above the [year-to-date] total of 67 percent share."

Accessories represented a major uptick year-over-year, with a 34 percent increase to $354.1 million from $297.8 million. Callahan said that this was the best-ever June for points and subscription cards, both in terms of dollars and unit sales.

Arkham Knight was the top-selling game in the US during June.

This story has been updated with statements from Microsoft and Nintendo, as well as data from the NPD Group.