Sony has confirmed that PlayStation 4 was the best-selling home console in North America during March 2016.
Speaking in a statement overnight, the console maker revealed that the PS4 was also the platform of choice for Tom Clancy’s The Division. As we reported earlier, the Ubisoft action-RPG-shooter was the top-selling title in the U.S. last month.
"Thank you to our fans and partners for making PlayStation 4 the top-selling console and software sales leader for the month of March, as well as the number-one console for fans of The Division, according to NPD," said the company. "We are truly humbled by the success and look forward to delivering more amazing gaming experiences throughout 2016, including the launch of PlayStation VR this October."
Despite this, hardware sales were overall down year-on-year by 19 percent, with portable games consoles experiencing the biggest dip in performance.
"Video game hardware dollar sales declined by 19 percent in March 2016, with unit sales dropping 17 percent,” commented Liam Callahan, an analyst for the NPD. "The difference in trends was due to some softening of average retail prices of 2 percent versus last March."
"Portable hardware sales had the highest dollar sales volume decline versus last March, followed closely by eighth generation consoles," he added. "Seventh generation consoles had a steep percentage decline of 78 percent, though those sales now represent only 2 percent of the month’s sales."
Sony has a number of high-profile exclusive releases due this year, including Ratchet & Clank (out now in the U.S. but due later this month in Europe), Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, No Man’s Sky, Gran Turismo Sport and The Last Guardian.
As the company mentioned in the above statement, PlayStation VR, the firm’s upcoming virtual reality headset for PS4, will launch in fall 2016 priced $399/£349. There’s currently around 230 developers working on the device, and Sony hopes to have about 50 games out by the end of the year.