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PS4 Tops December, Is Also Best-Selling Console For 2015

Ben-Dutka 9 Comments

PlayStation 4 not only had a great holiday season , it also enjoyed one hell of a year.

The NPD Group has announced both the December sales and the 2015 annual sales for the video game market in the U.S. As it turns out, PS4 was once again the best-selling console in December, and easily the best-selling system in all of 2015.

Sony didn't get specific with sales figures, but again shared the previously revealed 35.9 million figure along with the 5.7 million PS4 units sold during the holiday period (which spans November 22 through January 2) Said one Sony spokesperson:

"As we reflect on an amazing year, we want to thank fans and partners for making PlayStation 4 the top selling console in December and in 2015. PS4 also had the strongest third-party software sales in 2015 in the US, according to NPD."

Mike Nichols, Corporate VP of Xbox marketing, said Xbox One had the "most critically-acclaimed holiday lineup of exclusives in Xbox history" and added that December 2015 was the best month to date for both Xbox Live global engagement and Xbox One sales. Well, that wasn't too hard to do, what with almost no PS4 exclusives on the market during that period, Nintendo's Wii U languishing, and Xbox One getting games like Halo 5: Guardians and Rise of the Tomb Raider .

NPD analyst Liam Callahan said that combined sales of PS4 and Xbox One are still tracking ahead of the combined sales of PS3 and Xbox 360 after 26 months of availability. In fact, the new consoles are tracking 47 percent ahead. Even so, hardware sales fell 6 percent during December and they were down 4 percent for the year when compared to 2014. That's mostly due to an expected decline in aging hardware and software, though.

And with the help of Nintendo (the Wii U's holiday performance wasn't talked about at all), the trio of consoles had the best holiday season ever, breaking last year's record. Onward and upward for Sony's console, that's for sure! Owners can look forward to an "unprecedented rush" of games for the year and beyond, and don't forget that Sony is prepping over 100 PlayStation VR titles as well.

Is 2016 the year of PlayStation…?