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September NPD: PS4 sales triple and Destiny is fulfilled

PS4 dominated the month of September, handily beating the Xbox One. Meanwhile, Bungie's much-anticipated Destiny is king of the software mountain.

Ozzie Mejia

October 16, 2014 3:30 PM

The new console wars are starting to get a little one-sided. Sony has once again declared victory in the month of September, declaring the PlayStation 4 the top-selling console for the month ahead of the Xbox One. It won out in dominating fashion, nearly tripling their sales from the month of August.

A big part of the reason for Sony's increased PS4 sales can be attributed to a strong software lineup, led by Destiny. It may come as little surprise to many that Bungie's long-awaited opus has taken the top spot by a tremendous margin. Destiny has also become the best-selling game of 2014 so far.

That's followed by Madden and FIFA for an EA Sports twosome. However, the most interesting game here is Super Smash Bros. for 3DS taking the fourth slot... interesting in the sense that it didn't technically release until October 3, giving it only two days to register with the September NPD report. Nintendo may be very happy with its fighting franchise not just a month from now, but also during the holiday season. That's because Smash Bros. bumped 3DS hardware sales up by 140,000, a trend that Nintendo hopes will continue when the Wii U version arrives in November. The NPD Group also makes sure to note that Hyrule Warriors wound up doing very well for itself, pointing out that it would have cracked the Top 10 on a per-SKU basis. Catch the rest of the Top 10 below.

September 2014 Top 10 Games (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms incl. PC; new releases in bold)

Destiny (XBO, PS4, 360, PS3)
Madden NFL 15 (360, PS4, PS3, XBO)
FIFA 15 (PS4, 360, PS3, XBO, Wii, PSV, 3DS)
Super Smash Bros. (3DS)
Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS4, XBO, PC)
NHL 15 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)
Minecraft (360, PS3)
The Sims 4 (PC)
Disney Infinity 2.0 (360, PS3, NWU, PS4, XBO)
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (PS4, 360, PS3, XBO, PC)

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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Shacknews

 reply
October 16, 2014 3:38 PM

Ozzie Mejia posted a new article, September NPD: PS4 sales triple and Destiny is fulfilled
- capt tripps
  
   reply
  October 16, 2014 4:58 PM
  
  1. I don't think this article links to its chatty.
  
  2. Since they're nice enough to mention that "that it [Hyrule Warriors] would have cracked the Top 10 on a per-SKU basis", do they also provide a per-SKU top ten list?
  - LoioshDwaggie
    
     reply
    October 16, 2014 5:02 PM
    
    It links to the chatty. It's on the right-hand side.
    - capt tripps
      
       reply
      October 16, 2014 5:06 PM
      
      I swear it wasn't there a minute ago. This can mean only one thing. Invasion!
      - LoioshDwaggie
        
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        October 16, 2014 5:07 PM
        
        It's amazing I can totally hear that trailer in my head every time someone says that, hahaha.
- a uberboy
  
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  October 16, 2014 5:22 PM
  
  should probably note that the ps4 managed to still outsell the xbox despite Microsoft giving away a free game (including destiny) with any console purchase, including the console version that was bundled with a free copy of madden during the month at issue.
  
  http://news.xbox.com/2014/09/xbox-september-promotion
  http://venturebeat.com/2014/10/16/september-2014-npd-ps4-outsells-xbox-one-despite-microsoft-giving-away-a-free-game/
  - derelict515
    
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    October 16, 2014 5:35 PM
    
    "during the month" = for a week
    - a uberboy
      
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      October 16, 2014 6:23 PM
      
      My language was sloppy, the promotion occurred within the month at issue without encompassing the entire period, but I did provide a direct link headlining the precise promotional criteria.
      
      It doesn't change the fact that Microsoft clearly needs to substantially improve the value proposition of their console if even such an aggressive promotion as this was unable to take the month's lead.
      - ditchjunk
        
         reply
        October 16, 2014 7:43 PM
        
        Well a big reason I bought my xbone was because it came with 3 free games and I've already purchased 3 more, so I guess one could assume that strategy has been working pretty well for them.
        
        a uberboy
        
         reply
        October 17, 2014 8:17 AM
        
        ndp sales data > assumptions.
  - Halen
    
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    October 16, 2014 6:19 PM
    
    I'm confused by that second article. At the end they list the numbers of PS4's sold, and they say it outsold the Xbox One. But they didn't have XB1 sales numbers just "we've reached out to Microsoft, blah, blah, blah" -- how do they know it outsold? Sales numbers from retailers?
    - veras
      
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      October 16, 2014 6:24 PM
      
      my interpretation was Sony claimed victory in a statement, MS made no comment disputing that or mentioning their own sales, and consequently VB is assuming that means Sony is correct
      - veras
        
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        October 16, 2014 6:25 PM
        
        oh here, MS PR did issue a non-reply reply: http://www.craveonline.ca/gaming/articles/775543-ps4-leads-september-2014-npd-group-charts-500000-units-sold-consumers
        
        "We believe this will be one of our biggest holiday seasons ever. We’re offering great Xbox One bundles aligned with the most anticipated game launches of the year, including ‘Assassin’s Creed Unity,’ ‘Sunset Overdrive’ and ‘Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare,’ and incredible deals for fans. Combined with blockbusters like ‘Halo: The Master Chief Collection,’ ‘Grand Theft Auto 5,’ ‘Destiny’ and ‘Forza Horizon 2,’ we are committed to making Xbox One a great place to play this holiday."
    - a uberboy
      
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      October 16, 2014 6:27 PM
      
      Ndp collects sales data from retailers and reports it for a fee. If Microsoft had sold more units, they would have challenged Sony's claim rather than simply remaining silent.
    - jcupitt
      
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      October 17, 2014 8:26 AM
      
      The NPD numbers are supposedly about 300k for ps4, 150k for xb1, <100k for wii-u.
- serenj
  
   reply
  October 16, 2014 6:06 PM
  
  So much for Pachter's prediction that Xbox won September.
- vertdang
  
   reply
  October 16, 2014 10:40 PM
  
  how many people are STILL playing destiny though.
  
  I hear the population is way down from a few friends that play. Any truth to that?
  - OzzieMejia
    
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    October 16, 2014 10:42 PM
    
    I find it interesting that for all the hype that Sony threw out there, the Xbox One version of Destiny apparently sold better.
    - serenj
      
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      October 17, 2014 12:14 AM
      
      That's only physical retail copies though. How many Destiny PS4 or digital versions sold?
    - aethyr
      
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      October 17, 2014 8:37 AM
      
      Sony had a Destiny Bundle that doesn't count for NPD sales. Also from the Sony press release, "According to Activision internal estimates, the PS4 system is the #1 platform worldwide for Destiny based on units sold through as of October 4, 2014."
  - LoioshDwaggie
    
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    October 16, 2014 10:46 PM
    
    Giantbomb reported they're at over 3 or 4 million users. I cannot remember the exact number. It was on the bombcast this week.
    - [deleted] 686487397
      
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      October 16, 2014 11:35 PM
      
      [deleted]
  - diamondfire05
    
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    October 17, 2014 6:18 AM
    
    The Shack PS4 community is still going strong with weekly raids now.
  - furdude
    
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    October 17, 2014 7:32 AM
    
    3.2 million daily
    
    http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/10/13/destiny-averages-32-million-players-per-day
    
    How would your friends be able to say population is down when you can never see more than 16 people at a time??
  - CyCo_PL
    
     reply
    October 17, 2014 8:34 AM
    
    I pretty much stopped playing as soon as I hit the point where I have to grind/farm for upgrade materials rather than just grinding for gear. Farming just isn't fun to me.
    
    That being said, almost my entire PS4 friends list is still playing Destiny every day.
- ant_hillbilly
  
   reply
  October 17, 2014 10:48 AM
  
  So NPD numbers got leaked.
  
  Hardware
  
  PS4 - 538k
  XB1 - 284k
  
  Software
  
  Destiny
  
  PS4: 1,191k
  XB1: 945k
  360: 621k
  PS3: 243k
  
  Total: 3,000,000~
  
  Shadow of Mordor
  
  PS4: 59%
  XB1: 41%
  
  Total: 350k~
  
  Hyrule Warriors - 170k
  
  Forza Horizon 2 - 120k (includes both 360 and xb1 version)