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April NPD: Xbox One overtakes PS4, Mortal Kombat X decapitates all comers

Xbox One has overtaken PlayStation 4 sales in the month of April, according to the NPD Group. Meanwhile, Mortal Kombat X has finished off the competition, fending off a string of worthy challengers.

Ozzie Mejia

May 14, 2015 3:40 PM

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The PlayStation 4 winning streak appears to be at an end. Microsoft has claimed victory for the Xbox One in the month of April, with the April NPD report confirming a win over Sony's next-gen console. It culminates in a down month overall for hardware, with the decline mostly coming from old-gen consoles.

Prior to today's NPD report, corporate vice president at Xbox marketing Mike Nichols sent out a statement. "As the best-selling console in the U.S. in April, fans set record April sales and engagement for Xbox One last month," the statement read. "Xbox One console sales in the U.S. increased 63 percent in April 2015 compared to April 2014 and Xbox Live comparisons showed the number of active global users (Xbox One and Xbox 360) grew 24 percent. We are grateful to our fans for their passion and support and are looking forward to sharing more on the best game lineup in Xbox history at E3."

The Xbox One dropped its price to $349 back in January, but its suddenly April surge can also be attributed to a pair of April promotions. A NeoGAF poster pointed to promotions from GameStop and Best Buy that offered a chunky amount of credit towards new Xbox One purchases with trade-in of an old-gen console.

Over on the software side, Mortal Kombat X has dished out pain to its competitors, taking the top spot for the month of April. Not only that, but it had the best opening month in franchise history, as well as the second-highest launch ever for a fighting game, only behind Super Smash Bros. Brawl in 2008. Grand Theft Auto V shot back up to the second spot, largely on the strength of the new PC version that released in April. There wasn't a whole lot else happening in terms of new releases last month, which allowed for Dark Souls 2 (strengthened by some next-gen hotness) and Super Smash Bros. to creep back onto the list. It was crushing for April's other new releases, most notably the New 3DS' Xenoblade Chronicles, though the NPD Group noted that on a sku-by-sku basis, it would have cracked the top 10.

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

• Mortal Kombat X (PS4, XBO)
• Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, XBO, PC, 360, PS3)
• Battlefield: Hardline (XBO, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)
• MLB 15: The Show (PS4, PS3)
• Minecraft (360, PS3, XBO, PS4)
• NBA 2K15 (XBO, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)
• Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (XBO, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)
• Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)
• Super Smash Bros. (3DS, NWU)
• Borderlands: The Handsome Collection (PS4, XBO)

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?