PixlBit

Welp, we got some US sales figures last night. Here's my take:

- The PS4 doubled the Xbox One in sales last month, despite the Xone being readily available in various stores while the PS4 has been horribly understocked since launch.

The PS4 is already far ahead in Europe, including the 360 bastion of the UK. And there's no chance in hell the Xone is going to make major inroads into Japan after how miserably it's predecessors sold there--which is likely why we still haven't heard a thing about it's Japanese launch date yet. So this is clearly an issue of demand, not supply; people are more than willing to wait for a PS4 purchase, rather than buy the readily available Xone.

That's...not good. It was bound to lose in Europe, but the US has been Microsoft's bastion from the beginning. Thus I didn't expect the PS4 to do any than slightly above the Xone's sales due to it's supply issues. It seems that the practicality of the PS4 being stronger AND cheaper, along with it's "games first" marketing vs. MS's more muddled general entertainment play, is resonating in a big way. Titanfall just became FAR more important.

- Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition sold around 85,000 units. Guess there wasn't a big market of people who

A) never played the original game
B) didn't want to buy it cheap for the old consoles of PC, and
C) were willing to pay $60 for a graphical upgrade

It simply isn't a good value at $60 for what it's giving you, especially just a year after the original came out. I'm glad the market saw it that way and acted accordingly; really don't want that to become a trend.

- The WiiU sold less than it did in January 2013--which was already a dismal number, as that's when it's sales first collapsed and never recovered. Considering that the WiiU is the only console in recent memory that's set to sell LESS in it's second year than it's first, even more deterioration is the last thing Nintendo needs right now. They have nothing of note between Donkey Kong next week and Mario Kart 8 in May, while X, Bayonetta 2 and Smash (FUCK YEAH LITTLE MAC) still don't have proper release dates yet.

- 3DS sales dropped by 30% compared to last year as well, despite stuff like Pokemon X/Y and A Link Between Worlds out now. Again, Nintendo is seeing sales shrink despite having more stuff worth buying the platform for, with less big games available to make up the difference in the next several months.

- The Vita's sales, as usual, were completely pathetic. It only sold half as much as the already dismal Jan. 2013 numbers, despite games like Tearaway, Dragon's Crown and Killzone being available and the price drop for both the system and its memory. Nobody wants it outside of Japan, and Sony isn't doing anything to buck that trend. It'll stay in the irrelevant limbo it's waded in since launch for yet another year.

- The PS3 and 360 completely collapsed in the wake of their successors releases, with drops as high as 80% compared to last year. It's a far cry from the PS2, which kept pace with the 360 for a while in 2005. Indeed, the PS3 and 360 together don't reach half the sales the PS2 had in the January after the 360 released. In fact, the WiiU sold more than the 360 did last month. It seems that after 8 years, people are more than ready to move on.

What's your take on the NPD numbers? Let me know in the comments.