Boston, MA 09/12/2014 (wallstreetpr) – According to The NPD Group, Inc., a research firm, the sales of video game products in the U.S. surged 8% in August 2014 because of an increase in shipment of next-gen consoles. This can be seen in connection with the decreasing software sale.
Hardware Outshines Software
In an e-mailed response to Bloomberg, NPD said that hardware sales, which included Xbox One of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and PlayStation 4 of Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE), increased to $196.2 million in August 2014. This is a whooping surge in comparison to $90.8 million of the same time period in 2013. On the contrary, software revenue dropped down 21% to $231.6 million and this does not include titles for PCs. The total sales totalled at $561.3 million in comparison to $521.1 million.
An analyst at NPD, Liam Callahan, told Bloomberg that the “explosive growth of hardware” is a result of eighth generation video games consoles. While seeing Xbox One and PS4 sales side by side over a time period of 10 months, it becomes clear that combined hardware sales of these consoles has increased more than 70% in comparison to predecessors.
Software Sales to Catch Up in Near Future
The research firm explained that the software industry need not worry because the sales might catch up in coming few months, attributed to new title launch of various publishers. These new titles shall be introduced for new machines.
But what is interesting is the fact that Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE)’s consoles have reawakened the demand of these games among the consumers. Sharper graphics and interesting online features have attracted consumers who love to play free digital games on their mobiles. Both the consoles were brought to the market in November 2013.
However, it must be noted that decrease in games found at older consoles remained as it is. It wasn’t tackled or offset by new shipment of titles for PS4 and Xbox One. NPD said that the game which topped the charts in August 2014 was Madden NFL 15 of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:EA).
