March 2015 NPD: PS4 beats Xbox One; Battlefield, Bloodborne lead sluggish March game sales

Here's the full report from The NPD Group via GamesBeat.

[jackanderson1985]

battlefield selling more on X1, impressive

BB number 2 even better... hope we get a sequel or another game from From really... i suck at it but my god do i love it

[MightyNoX]

Expected. Devaluing the xbone combined with weak software line up will automatically
make the PS4 win every month until November.

Here's a prediction: If Sony finally drops the price, PS4 takes every month this year.

[jackanderson1985]

dunno think Halo 5 will guarantee a win for X1 regardless... the game is a system seller

unless sony release GT

[TomShoe]

Bloodborne 2 confirmed, excellent. This is the birth of a new A-List franchise, I love it.

BF:H selling more on Xbox isn't all that surprising. FPS games normally sell better on Xbox and a lot of PS4 owners spent their money on Bloodborne. It looks fun though, I might get it eventually.

@JackAnderson1985

Microsoft will win the holidays because they'll offer their usual fire-sale prices. A lot of parents just buy the cheaper console. Still, Halo 5 should be a nice kicker. That, and GT usually sells better in the rest of the world as compared to the US.

[freshslicepizza]

good numbers for bloodborne and actually better than expected for mlb. the troubling news is sales are down from last year for hardware and software totals so does that mean there will be a retraction overall from last generation?

[NatureOfLogic_]

@jackanderson1985

A price cut and one big game from Sony would kill any Halo Xbox one holiday hype.

[morganfell]

@jack, Sony has an unnanounced title launching this fall that is the safety net for Uncharted 4's move to next year. It will actually sell more consoles than Uncharted 4. And it isn't GT7. Combine that with a price drop and Sony will be crushing it.

Sony may also begin Morpheus ads before Christmas.

[Kribwalker]

@natureoflogic

There will be no stopping the Halo hype train, the MS PR machine is already getting into full force. By early October there won't be a commercial break without halo.

[chrismichaels04]

Congrats to Sony on the PS4's continued worldwide success. Definitely well deserved. Its also great to see both PS4 March exclusives Bloodborne and MLB15 The Show making the top 10 list.

[Joey_Leone]

There's no need for a price drop, the ps4s are selling like hot cakes.

[marlinfan10]

@morgan

What game would that be? Saying that an unannounced title that no one knows of will move more consoles than Uc4 is a pretty big statement.

[Spotie]

Halo might be enough to win NPD around the holidays.

I say "might" because I think a lot of the people who'd want Halo already have an XB1. It'll still definitely move systems, though. I wouldn't be surprised if the XB1 took November and/or December, but I really wouldn't be surprised if the PS4 continued on course, either.

[HammadTheBeast]

TBH, I don't want another Bloodborne. It's an amazing game, one of the best on PS4 now and probably for a while, but it told its story. Its world is fulfilling enough that I feel that From could pursue other worlds, maybe something like Bioshock with Rapture and then Columbia.

I feel like Bloodborne as a standalone was great in and of itself, but it doesn't need to become a series, perhaps a spiritual successor like BB was to Demon's Souls would be better.

[mikeslemonade]

NPD is old and lame. This is month old data. And they don't even give us the numbers. Stupid how you guys still like NPD over VGchartz when you don't even get numbers. Instead you people wanna make up your own numbers. VGchartz more reliable than you!

And BF Hardline on PS4 sold almost twice as good as X1. In the NA the X1 sold more copies but worldwide the PS4 crushed the X1 as usual.

[Gamer1982]

GTA and BF selling more on Xbox was expected as most people on average buy 1 game a month and since most ps gamers bought bloodbourne that month and xbox gamers couldnt buy it they bought BF and and GTA instead. We will see this reflected in the coming months with more PS4 sales of those games than xbox sales as ps4 gamers eventually picking up those games.

[freshslicepizza]

anyone know how well the order 1886 sold? it was number 9 last month and nowhere to be seen this month. some people defended the fact it was released late which explained it only reached 9th. what's the reasoning for this month?

[Spotie]

@moldybread: If someone hinted that it might have become a victim of a rather strong hate campaign, what would you say? If it just missed out on making it into the list, what would you say? If it did poorly in the US but sold well worldwide- which wouldn't be reflected here- what would you say? If it saw a significant portion of its sales as a digital release, meaning it wouldn't chart as high on NPD, what would you say?

I get the feeling that even if all these things were true- and we really have no way of knowing right now- they'd only be excuses to you.

[LordMaim]

@mikeslemonade: The difference is that NPD uses *actual* data, as opposed to some undisclosed algorithm based on calling a few retailers and extrapolating the rest. "Make up numbers" should on VGChartz's masthead.

To your second point, the NPD figures are only for North America. That's why the global sales don't match, because NPD figures aren't for global sales.

[Perjoss]

"Bloodborne 2 confirmed"

As much as I love Bloodborne I'd rather they skip it for 1 cycle and do a Demon's Souls 2 first at the same quality level as Bloodborne.

[bouzebbal]

@jackanderson1985:
that's ok :)
they need to sell their big franchises and it's cool x1 finally spikes in November.
Speaking of November, Battlefront is coming out in there. We might get Destiny's marketing campaign all over again.

[freshslicepizza]

@Spotie,

"If someone hinted that it might have become a victim of a rather strong hate campaign, what would you say?"

let's not play the victim card ok? you didn't make the game so why do you care and that hate from what i read was mainly from feedback. there was a lot of negative press surrounding and at the same time we had fans who were also already confirming it's going to be good before launch. then reviews came out and many were not very favorable. it's not called a hate campaign, it's called a mediocre game marketed as a aaa seller that was burdened like many other games to live up to expectations that were not met. at least critically. this is what happens when you promote software to show off hardware with no real substance to back it up. i never played the game but this is from gathering information among reviews.

"If it just missed out on making it into the list, what would you say?"

i would say what i am saying now, it was #9 last month and nowhere to be found now. this just comfirms those who held on to this belief that npd last month's did not show the whole picture since it was only a few days counted for that month.

"If it did poorly in the US but sold well worldwide- which wouldn't be reflected here- what would you say?"

i would say great for a new ip, just like i did earlier for bloodborne. trouble is this isn't about worldwide numbers and sony has not released any for the order, have they? so what do you say about that?

"If it saw a significant portion of its sales as a digital release, meaning it wouldn't chart as high on NPD, what would you say?"

i would say why change the rules when other games like bloodborne are also available digitally.

"I get the feeling that even if all these things were true- and we really have no way of knowing right now- they'd only be excuses to you."

i'm not coming up with excuses. if you read your response it actually looks as though you're the one coming up with them.

[Spotie]

"let's not play the victim card ok?"

Who's doing that? You made a statement, and I asked questions to gauge your reaction to what you wanted to know. Truth is, though, there WAS a large campaign to tell people not to buy this game. It's ignorant of you to act like that might not have an effect on sales.

"this isn't about worldwide numbers"

Not directly. You've got a desire to make this black and white, to make it just one thing that could positively or negatively affect the game's representation here, and it's not that simple.

"why change the rules"

What rules are being changed? Some games wind up doing a lot better due to digital sales. Some games see mostly physical sales. Not a hard concept.

"i'm not coming up with excuses"

You should reread that line you're quoting.

[Relientk77]

Yeah because the PS4 owners bought Bloodborne over Hardline

so not that impressive

[Bathyj]

Also Bloodborne only had about a week and a half sales and Battlefield is for all versions combined. I bet Bloodborne sold more than any one version of Battlefield and it did it in 10 days.

[SilentNegotiator]

I certainly wouldn't choose that cash grab, Hardline, over Bloodborne.

[UltraNova]

A game like BB even coming close sales-wise to a battlefield game no matter how bad the latter is is an achievement on it own.

[pivotplease]

Kind of a shame that BF Hardline and Mario Party 10 did so well sales-wise. Both are two of the worst games in their respective franchises. I guess name brands sell though. Bloodborne did amazing for a new IP that caters to a niche market. I expect more collabs with Sony in the future. Maybe after Dark Souls 3?

[NatureOfLogic_]

Competition is good. It's good to see Bloodborne on top. Well deserved to PS4 and Bloodborne.

[joab777]

More PS4 owners need to get over their fear and get Bloodborne. It's a masterpiece.

Yeah, I've played Soul's games, but I'm an average gamer, and I'm halfway through 2nd playthrough. Got platinum on 1st. It's isn't as hard as everyone says.

[isa_scout]

I agree completely I've been pressuring friends on PSN to pick it up, but they're to afraid of it's difficulty. I told them once you beat blood starved beast and Father Gascoine you feel like you can pretty much handle anything. I know a lot of people have already said this but truthfully I haven't played a game this good since The Last of Us on PS3. I'm getting ready to start my NG+ and tackle the chalice dungeons.

[LamerTamer]

Too bad the graphics suck in BB. It is way too aliased and blurry, especially on the sides of the screen. The blurry screen effect gives me a headache.

[OldDude]

@isa_scout

Friends don't pressure friends into buying videogames. They respect what they actually want to do with their money.

[Josuey]

Yup no surprise there, PS4 gamers bought Bloodborne instead of Battlefield

[Automatic79]

Congratulations to Xbox impressive battlefield Hard line and GrandTheft Auto sales. Congratulations to Xbox for cumulative sales continuing to outpace Xbox 360. Overall good to see all game consoles having a healthy month.

[poor_cus_of_games]

Where's the love for Sony?

[Magicite]

Only retail copies counted in NPD.

[stuna1]

This sure does put a different spin on what VGChartz had BloodBorne at!

NPD; BloodBorne #2

VGChartz; BloodBorne #50

If this doesn't say something, I don't know what will.

[FarEastOrient]

VGChartz has a historyof inventing numbers, they're also in denial when the companies release shareholder reports different than VGChartz numbers.

[SmielmaN]

Well said,
Vg chartz is basically entertainment and not a provider of actual data. I'm actually surprised it's allowed to be posted on this site considering it's completely made up then adjusted when real numbers get announced. Strange really

[Bzone24]

Where does VGChartz have Bloodborne listed at #50? Can't seem to find it on their site. Thanks.

[pyroxxx]

Not surprising at all,.. being BH and Ori was the only thing to spend money on the entire month on Xbox One (still this is US only)

It is going to be like last gen ,.. when PS3 started having more exclusives per week as 360 had per annum ,.. and than people were surprised some game sold better on the system

[PudgeyBurrito]

There was an article on here not to long ago that stated more people are playing hardline online on ps4 per day then Xbone.

[SmielmaN]

Could have meant worldwide?

[PudgeyBurrito]

@smilelmaN Yeah most likely as NDP is Murica.

[S2Killinit]

its because PS4 had other games along with Battlefield. not very surprising that it sold more on xbone. Also don't forget this was NPD (north america). World wide, PS4 sold way more Battlefield copies than xbone.

[ColManischewitz]

Surprised Mario Party is in the top sellers

[midnightambler]

Bloodborne's success pleases me no end. It's a proper video game by developers who care about their craft.

[BitbyDeath]

Pretty much as expected.

[emilijo777]

xbox one 50$ cheaper still PS4 won

[BitbyDeath]

By the PR statement it sounds like it sold worse than Feb NPD as well.

[GMR_PR]

@emilijo777

Expected with such a great exclusive game that is Bloodborne.

[RiPPn]

Xbox hasn't had a retail exclusive released since Novembers Master Chief Collection sans the budget title Scream Ride. And the only other release in sight is the budget rerelease of State of Decay. Sales are going to be terrible for the machine until "preseason" is over.

[Bathyj]

Whenever I think of MS's software strategy I think of Eddie Murphy.

https://www.youtube.com/wat...

If you starving and someone throws you a cracker, you gonna be like "Goddamn, thats the best cracker I ever ate in my life"

I think the fact MS's sales stagnate 10 months of the year and then pick up in November/December back up my theory.

[star_lancer]

What's wrong with Scream Ride, State of Decay & Ori? Dismissing them simply because they're "budget" games is incredibly fanboyish. They may not be system sellers, but Ori & Scream Ride are good games that Xbox owners are enjoying now.

Some of the so-called "budget" games turn out to be better than many overhyped AAA games.

[oasdada]

@star_lancer

the point is not the budget titles.. the point is how xbox fanboys totally Dismissed every possible "budget" title on ps4 calling it "indie station" so for a fair comparison one really cant complain

[S2Killinit]

@Star_lancer
I don't think he is dismissing those titles because they are "budget" he is saying xbone hasn't had a proper retail exclusive since holiday of last year.

granted Ori is a good game

[ThanatosDMC]

He's talking about exclusives as well.

[badz149]

Last year the fanboys were saying "the PS4 is only selling better because it's cheaper". I really want to know what is the excuse now.

[Automatic79]

@badz

This year the fanboys were saying "software sells more on PS4" I wonder what there excuse is, Battlefield Hardline and Grand Theft Auto say Hello.

[GameDev1]

@MichealLito

You do note that PS4 is top in software sales this month, also PS4 also had two exclusives with Blood borne which topped individual software and MLB 15 in the charts, also topped Call of Duty AW

But yeah, read what you want to read

[BG11579]

It's the same fans that where saying at the begining that the xbone was making more money because even if it was selling less, it was more expensive (the 500$ era)...
Wonder what they are saying now?

[chrismichaels04]

@badz149 - You know how it is, the goal posts are always moving with some people.

@gamedev1 - Some people only see what they want to see. They'll ignore the fact PS4 had 6 games leading in sales in the top 10 chart (including Call of Duty). Xbox only had 3.

@MichaelLito - you do know overall lifetime sales of GTAV on PS4 and PS3 are already *way* ahead of xbox right?

[MRMagoo123]

I cant even believe how well the PS4 is selling, I have a feeling once the morpheus is out and the Jrpgs are flowing its gonna be another PS2 domination not just the 50% market share it has already but something like 70%

@michellelito79

I think its about time for your foot to part ways with your mouth, it seems to be in there often.

[playstationgamer]

Another impressive month for the PS4. Good job Sony.

@Michaellito79 - There is nothing wrong with being a loyal fan of your system, but at least be realistic. Your comments always come off very salty.

[captainexplosion]

Well PS4 is releasing big games now. Last year they weren't.

[Utalkin2me]

@captainexplosion

Sssoooo, if the PS4 was outselling the Xbox last year without "big games" as you put it. Explain to me what that means, i shall be waiting.

[S2Killinit]

@MichaelLito79
Battlefield Hardline and Grand Theft Auto sold more on PS4. The U.S. is not the world buddy. Take geography its good class.

[BitbyDeath]

@RiPPN,
yep last one was MCC and next one will probably be Halo 5.

[hello12]

Bloodborne was an exclusive game for Sony and hardline wasn't going to do the numbers of BF4 software sales weren't going to be that high for March. The problem with the NPD we don't ever get a breakdown of sales both consoles like how many more units did Sony sell, Microsoft? Its a guessing game the NPD.

Sony was going to win March Bloodborne out no surprises really.

[bleedsoe9mm]

without the numbers its pretty meaningless . it would be interesting to see if bb and the order moved a significant amount of hardware .

[Sevir]

Pretty impressive to see that the PS4 is selling so well despite the XBO having a price advantage. Congrats to Bloodborne's sales for march and even better for selling in excess of 1 million units in just 12 days. conversely, Infamous SS sold 1 million in 9 days. so yeah there was an over decline. even though there was robust software on offer for each platform. It'll be interesting to see sales of the Witcher 3 next month and Batman in June.

[bleedsoe9mm]

BB and the order its not surprising sony had a big month . its weird the hardline sold best on xb1 yet cod switched to ps4 this month .

[MasterCornholio]

Why is it weird?

Many people chose BloodBorne over Hardline.

Its really that simple.

[bleedsoe9mm]

cod was selling better on the xb1 before that and for some , people say well zb1 gamers love their shooters , yet cod switched for some reason . consumers are weird . a doubt the vast majority of cod/players have any interest in BB .

[MasterCornholio]

But your assuming that the majority of people who play Call of Duty are only interested in FPS which just isn't true. Also many of Froms fans on the 360 bought a PS4 so that also accounts for Bloodborne selling so well.

Like I said this isn't strange at all.

[DEEBO]

Why is this a surprise to anyone is beyond me.

The PS4 just drop the order, bloodborne, mlb15
And it has better hardware plus the PlayStation brand is worldwide.

360 got really lucky and big jump but head to head MS was doom from the start.having the weaker hardware and bad E3 message didn't help.

I hope MS sales a ton x1's but they we always be number 2.

This is their third time and they still never won a console generation. I bet they will try to get jump a with their next system.

[Jigga69]

Yeah but this is NPD (US only).

[marlinfan10]

Nice seeing the show up there. I havnt had a chance to pick it up yet with all these other games out but I plan on grabbing it soon. It's easily my favorite sports franchise out there.

[Father__Merrin]

ps4 beats xbox1 in its own hometurf nice!!! I think it's safe to say ps4 is the number one choice for gamers world wide, once the full staple of Sony exclusives are in the system it will hard to pass up.

in fact il be putting a hold on Path Of Exile to get in some ps4 time!!!

[sovkhan]

What did you expect With all the exclusives the ps4 had???

[LexHazard79]

Lol...whats new?

[JMyers]

Hardline did better on XB1 because PS4 owners were buying Bloodborn. Its number 2 anf in one plaplatform. Plus came late in the month. MLB 15 actually came even later and still make it into the top 10. Impressive!

[ScaryMonkey]

Well deserved win for Sony, an excellent console with a fantastic game library that's continually growing. Definitely the best console experience available this gen no doubt.

[captainexplosion]

I expect PS4 to dominate until Oct-Dec when XB1 has some heavy hitters releasing. On the other hand, the WiiU has no chance this year.

[oasdada]

by heavy hitters u mean price cut and halo

[UltraAtomic]

Wow this shows you that shooters sale well one the x1! Battlefront will be no different in my opinion. However! Man sony just keeps bringing in those numbers lol

[MasterCornholio]

I know Bloodborne would boost the PS4 sales by a massive amount.

:)

The same also happened in Japan and I'm Guessing Europe was the same.

[oasdada]

im guessing 3rd party games must be selling better on xb1 due to lack of exclusives

[AlphaBlackWolf96]

Very impressive for Sony.

[hkgamer]

bloodborne numbers are pretty decent. nice to see digital sales number for once.

its another month for ps4 beating xbone in sales in the us. i wonder if its the same in the UK?

also kinda strange to see gtaV sell more on xbone in march. according to vgchartz, from march1st to march 21st gtaV has sold around 10k more on ps4 compared to xbone. sales must have spiked on the last 10 days. or ps4 players probably stopped buying gtaV.

[cruzngta]

Sony kicking butt!!! My delsuional younger brother keeps insisting 'the Bone is better and will catch up!!!!'Whatever dude...PS4 is doing amazing and good luck to MS trying to bank on holiday sales and year after year of Halo and Forza...1.5 years in and we already have 2 Forzas and a Halo colection - by the end of this year it will be 3 Forzas and 2 Halos. How about some new IP's MS?

[forsaken1304]

I feel most of the Halo fans picked up the xbox one this past holiday and any of the ones who did not are probably buying the master chief bundle

[smellslikeralph]

Its sad that most if not all of you couldn't even muster up a grats for Xbox.

Sad really what gamers have become. grats to both sides