Titanfall, the multi-platform Microsoft brand exclusive from Respawn Entertainment and EA, managed to top the software charts for March, coming in at the number one spot.
Nevertheless, despite a strong showing from the Call of Duty-plus-mechs first-person shooter, it still wasn't enough to help bolster the Xbox One out of third-place, as the system still struggled to shift enough units to surpass the total sales of the Wii U, or even remotely compete with the monthly numbers of the PlayStation 4.
As previously noted, the Xbox One is still sitting at just over 4 million total sales, even though Microsoft has shipped 5 million stock keeping units. They were probably expecting another million or so sales throughout March thanks to the highly marketed and commercially viable success of Titanfall... unfortunately, that didn't happen for the Micro 'S'.
According to the recent release of the numbers from the NPD Group, Titanfall topped the charts for the Xbox One and PC, followed by inFamous: Second Son on the PS4, with South Park: The Stick of Truth rounding out the top three spot.
As noted by GamesIndustry.biz, NPD analyst Liam Callahan commented about the data, saying...
“Software declines in March 2014 stemmed from poor comparisons to new launches from last March. Collectively, March 2014 launches sold 42 percent less than March 2013 launches,” … “PS4 and Xbox One continue to see success with cumulative sales of the two consoles through the first five months currently totaling more than double that of their predecessors, the PS3 and Xbox 360,"
The console and PC software retail market managed $432 million in the month of March, with hardware climbing 78% over the previous year at $395 million. Accessories topped $224 million, all thanks to the Xbox One coming with AA batteries instead of a rechargeable battery pack, and the total for the month managed $1.03 billion.
And even though Titanfall helped move more Xbox One SKUs than the months prior (not counting the holiday season months) the 311,000 Xbox One units that Titanfall helped move still paled in comparison to the PS4, which was still the top selling console of March.
As noted on DualShockers, Guy Longworth, the senior vice president of PlayStation brand marketing, stated that...
“Today’s NPD report confirmed that PlayStation 4 was No. 1 in sales for March and extended its cumulative lead for next generation game consoles, despite continued supply constraints. NPD also highlighted that PlayStation sold the most total consoles and demand for inFAMOUS Second Son was extremely strong.”
With the PS4 still leading out over the Xbox One, we can assume the PS4 moved well over 350,000 SKUs. Impressive.
Nevertheless, if Titanfall couldn't save the Xbox One... then what can? EA and Microsoft invested a lot into Respawn's mech-shooter and it seems to be have already sparked up better sales trends on the Xbox 360 than it did on the Xbox One, well, according to the early sales reports.
There's no other big exclusives inbound for the Xbox One for quite some time, and Microsoft will have to use whatever momentum they can gain from E3 to help make up the difference, because it's going to be a long, dry haul toward the holiday season.
