14 DAY TRIAL // The Xbox One home console from Microsoft has managed to sell more units in the month of November on the United States market than the rival PlayStation 4 from Sony and has taken the number one position in the NPD Group-compiled chart for the first time in ten months.
The position change between the two major rivals comes as the overall value of sales generated by the industry has dropped by 11 percent when compared to the same period last year, which is probably because that month featured the launch of next-gen devices.
Hardware sales have also gone down for the tracked period, but the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 have still managed to sell at least 80% more units than the 360 and the PS3 did at the same moment during their lifetime.
Sales of accessories for the devices have also gone up slightly, probably as a result of the sales generated by Black Friday.
The Xbox One performance was mostly linked to the fact that Microsoft cut 50 dollars (35 Euro) from the price of its platform until early in 2015 in order to make it more attractive for customers.
At the same time, the company ran a number of massive promotions for Black Friday and is also offering solid bundles and deals in time for Christmas.
The Wii U home console from Nintendo has also performed well, and the company says hardware sales have been boosted by about 10 percent as Super Smash Bros. was finally launched.
It also claims that the Amiibo line has been well received by gamers and that so far more than 700,000 were delivered to fans, with Link, Pikachu and Mario the best-selling of the lot.
Current gen will dominate the future
The 3DS handheld has also been a solid seller and benefited from the launch of the new Pokemon remakes, according to Liam Callahan, an NPD Group analyst quoted by VG247.
November has been mostly a good month for hardware sales, but both Microsoft and Sony will have to find new ways of boosting their devices in 2015.
The Xbox One will have to come up with solid new software releases or make its current price cut permanent to maintain the current pace of sales.
Meanwhile, the PlayStation 4, despite its solid performance, might also need to become cheaper at some point in order to continue to generate better than expected adoption rates.
