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PS4 Tops Charts Again as US Game Console Sales Decline 19 Percent in April 2016

Strangely, no company is claiming it had the top-selling system during the month.

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Update: Although it still isn't sharing its standard NPD statement, Sony confirmed with GameSpot that PS4 was the best-selling console during April in the US.

Original Story: The NPD Group today released its monthly report covering video game industry sales in the United States during April 2016. The industry as a whole was down as compared with the same period last year, and hardware specifically was down significantly.

Combined hardware, new physical software, and accessories sales for the month declined 15 percent to $509.5 million from $598.1 million. Hardware sales were down 23 percent to $142.1 million from $183.7 million last year.

That decline can't be blamed entirely on sales continuing to fall off for last-gen hardware like the Xbox 360 and PS3. Console sales overall declined 19 percent year-over-year, but spending on current-gen hardware dropped 15 percent. That's perhaps due in part to a combination of discounts and persistent rumors about enhanced versions of the PS4 and Xbox One on the way.

"Despite these declines, keep in mind that Xbox One and PS4 are trending over 40 percent higher in cumulative sales after 30 months in the market compared to their predecessors," NPD analyst Liam Callahan notes.

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Puzzlingly, none of the three console manufacturers claimed to have the top-selling console during the month. While we're rarely, if ever, provided with specific sales numbers for a given month anymore, we typically see one of the companies announce that their system topped the sales charts. That's been Sony more often than not in recent months, as PS4 has routinely been the best-selling console in the US (and most of the world), but the company declined to share any statement on April's NPD results.

It's worth noting that Xbox One was discounted for the entirety of April, which could have helped it to buck that trend and top PS4 sales. However, Microsoft's NPD statement avoids saying that it had the top console, while Nintendo's comment focused exclusively on the sales performance of its software.

On the software side, Dark Souls III came out on top, followed by a surprisingly strong debut by Ratchet & Clank. For the full rundown, check out our coverage of April's software results.

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