X

Xbox One almost catches PlayStation 4 in February

Microsoft's Xbox One came very close to catching Sony's PlayStation 4 in February sales, according to market researcher NPD.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
See full bio
Brooke Crothers
2 min read
Xbox One. Microsoft almost caught Sony on unit sales in February and beat Sony on revenue, says NPD.
Xbox One. Microsoft almost caught Sony on unit sales in February and beat Sony on revenue, says NPD. Microsoft

After reporting no sales figures in January, Microsoft is trumpeting its February numbers after a market researcher showed it gaining on Sony's PlayStation 4 in the U.S.

Though the PlayStation 4 (PS4) led hardware sales in February, it was only "by a narrow margin," according to the NPD Group, as reported by Bloomberg.

The Xbox One sold "over 90 percent of what the PS4 sold in terms of unit sales," according to NPD analyst Liam Callahan. But because of Xbox One's higher price, "it led hardware sales on a dollar basis," he added.

Microsoft, in a blog post, provided the exact numbers, comparing Xbox One to Xbox 360 sales: "February NPD Group figures released today showed that Xbox One continues selling at a record-breaking pace with 258,000 units sold in the US in the month of February, surpassing Xbox 360 sales by over 61 percent at the same point in time."

Neither NPD nor Sony specified a PS4 sales figure for February.

And note that the February sales number for Microsoft came well before its Titanfall title was released -- that was on March 11. So, Microsoft could get a boost from that game this month.

Some theories for the surge include gamers buying the Xbox One in anticipation of Titanfall and/or consumers not being able to get their hands on the PS4, which has been in short supply.

Sony still leads Microsoft in worldwide sales, though. Sony said it had sold 6 million PS4s through March 2, while Microsoft sold 3.9 million Xbox Ones in 2013.