NPD Group: PS4, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Top 2014 Sales Charts

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The NPD Group has published its figures for the year of 2014 in the United States, and the results, much like the December sales, were unsurprising. The PS4 and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare topped the sales charts for the entire year.

The fact that the PS4 was the best-selling console of 2014 is not shocking. The console was the best-selling platform for ten months straight, but was beaten by Xbox One in November and December. How much it lost by we do not know as both Sony and Microsoft have refused to release sales numbers for their consoles. What we do know is that the PS4 has sold 18.5 million units worldwide.

Year-over-year sales for the industry increased by 1% compared to 2013. Hardware sales increased 20% to $5.07 billion thanks to the strong sales of the PS4 and Xbox One. Software sales saw a huge decline of about 13%, bringing in only $5.3 billion. This could be attributed to digital sales, which have been growing year-over-year and aren’t tracked by the NPD. Also, we didn’t have a major release like Grand Theft Auto V in 2014, which sold nearly 30 million copies in 2013 alone. Accessories saw a huge boost, earning $132 million. This is most likely thanks to the continued success of Skylanders and Disney Infinity, and the introduction of the Nintendo’s Amiibo line of figurines.

On the software side, it was all about the PS4 and Xbox One. Sales for the new-gen software increased by 70% over 2013, the caveat being that new-gen software only being available for two months in 2013. Last-gen (PS3 and Xbox 360) software sales fell 16%.

Unsurprisingly, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare was the best-selling game of 2014. Last year’s Call of Duty: Ghosts missed out on the top spot thanks to Grand Theft Auto V, which didn’t come close to winning the top spot again this year. This we already knew, as Activision announced this a few weeks back. What is surprising is that Destiny is not the second best-selling game of the year, as Activision claimed. That honor goes to Madden NFL 15. However, Destiny is still the best-selling new IP of 2014.

Here are the top 10 selling games of 2014 in the U.S. (Remember, the platforms in parenthesis detail best-selling SKU to least-selling SKUs):

  1. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS4, PS3, PC)
  2. Madden NFL 15 (Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, PS3)
  3. Destiny (Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3)
  4. Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3)
  5. Minecraft (Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4)
  6. Super Smash Bros. (3DS, Wii U)
  7. NBA 2K15 (PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
  8. Watch Dogs (PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Wii U)
  9. FIFA 15 (Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Wii, 3DS, Vita)
  10. Call of Duty: Ghosts (Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4, Wii U, PC)

One thought on “NPD Group: PS4, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Top 2014 Sales Charts”

  1. So NPD is basically useless for game sales. All 40 games on my PS4 were purchased digitally. Most of my main friends on PSN have gone digital too.

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