Michael Pachter appears to enjoy pushing gamers’ buttons, so we doubt that he’ll care too much about the egg on his face right now; either way, his prediction that the PlayStation 4’s winning streak would end in September was, well, wrong. Sony actually managed a ninth month atop the NPD sales charts, with Destiny prompting sales of its next-gen super machine to almost triple over the previous month.
There are still no concrete numbers for the console, but speculation suggests that it was around the 500,000 units mark, which would be a sensational number if accurate – and would potentially indicate why the PlayStation Network has been so shaky for the past few weeks. Regardless, it was an impressive month for the Japanese giant overall, with PlayStation Plus subscriptions doubling, and PlayStation Store sales increasing by 90 per cent year-over-year.
“September 2014 was a record-breaking month for PlayStation’s digital business, thanks in large part to the success of Destiny,” said a chuffed Eric Lempel, vice president of Sony Network Entertainment. In fact, Bungie’s next big thing got off to a sensational start, securing the biggest launch of the year so far, while also enjoying the best launch month for a new intellectual property of all time. It’s also selling best on the PS4 on a global basis.
However, surprisingly, the standalone retail version actually performed better on the Xbox One in the United States, which may be due to Halo’s legacy on Microsoft’s family of systems. This figure doesn’t, however, include bundles or digital sales, which may paint a different picture entirely. Sony’s system still led the month for overall next-gen software, with EA Sports’ portfolio all performing best on the PS4.
Despite all of this, total software spend was down 36 per cent year-over-year, from $754 million in September 2013 to just $481 million this year. Of course, the big differentiator here is Grand Theft Auto V, which launched in September last year. Fortunately, overall industry income was up 2 per cent overall, thanks to the continued success of Sony and Microsoft’s brand new systems. Sales reached $1.1 billion for the five week period, up from $1.08 billion the year prior.
We’ve included the full list of best selling titles in the space below. Which software seized control of your wallet in September? When do you think that the PS4’s winning streak will come to an end? Which release will take October’s crown? Let us know in the comments section below.
Top Ten Physical Retail Releases: September 2014
1. Destiny (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3)
2. Madden NFL 15 (360, PS4, PS3, Xbox One)
3. FIFA 15 (PS4, 360, PS3, Xbox One, Wii, Vita, 3DS)
4. Super Smash Bros. for 3DS (3DS)
5. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
6. NHL 15 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
7. Minecraft (360, PS3)
8. The Sims 4 (PC)
9. Disney Infinity 2.0 (360, PS3, Wii U, PS4, Xbox One)
10. Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (PS4, 360, PS3, Xbox One, PC)
[source venturebeat.com, via neogaf.com]
Comments 41
Great sales for Smash, just 3DS and in 4rd, no surprises that PS4 with Destiny would for sure sold that much.
@ferrers405 Yeah, Smash did incredibly well. Hyrule Warriors did decently too from what I've read.
That Pachter guy should really quit. I dont think ive ever seen his predictions come true once.
I bought my PS4 in september,i would have bought it sooner but wiiu and xbox one had better games on the shelf,until now.
How is it possible this console keeps on selling this well, when quite frankly their competitors are doing better jobs at delivering games and/or good overall experiences. If I would be a fanboy, I'd be a Sony fanboy: in love with the brand since I can remember and the PS was almost holy to me...but in all honesty; I feel like Sony is slacking off a bit. These server problems never seem to stop, bringing PS TV which is still utter crap after a full year and still no real exclusives that will be remembered for generations to come. If I compare this to the effort both MS and Nintendo are making, I feel Sony is getting too comforttable.
The Wii U won't be a threat cause modern gamers don't like good games anymore it seems, but I totally see the One winning the "other 3 months", the months that matter most. Sony should first fix their online sh*t: resolution wise full console parity is approaching fast, in terms of their network they are literally years behind MS...or billions of dollars, to put it differently.
At some point we as Sony enthusiasts stopped being critical because we can't show our "weakness" to One owners, but I honestly feel people should be more outraged as they are because Sony isn't delivering: not with the ps tv, not with the vita and I find the "ps4 experience" mediocre at best till this point.
I think the PS4 is way above despite mediocre and infact apart from the obvious online issue the system itself and games included have kept me more entertained than the PS3 and the XBOX 360 did in the first year, despite what the guy said in the comment above mine. I just hope they can get these server sorted once and for all because if they can they've got themselves a sure winner. Both systems have there good and bad points as nothing is perfect. But like I said before, they need to get this server nailed down otherwise people will start jumping ship. These issues are playing right into M$ gready hands.
The PS4 is doing ridiculously well, you'd think it'd slow down at least enough that Microsoft could catch up but its not, so I can't really fault Pachter for being wrong here. I don't want to go so far as to say we have another PS2 on our hands, but dang, it sure as heck looks like it.
Off that list I only bought Sims 4 and D3 ps4. Tough to say if sims 4 will eventually get patched up enough to be great, but Diablo is pretty much the same as on ps3. Oh well, half my ps4 games are re-releases
Thanks for not putting his name in the title, I still think he knew he was making a false prediction and just wanted to see his name in the headlines.
I can't believe he gets paid for whatever it is that he does lol
Anyone remember this? https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2014/10/pachter_ps4s_american_winning_streak_ended_in_september
;p
Well colour me NOT surprised.
I am also not convinced that XBO's holiday line-up will stop the PS4 train either. Not because the XBO doesn't have a better holiday "exclusive" line-up, it does. BUT, big hitters during the coming holidays aren't exclusives (COD, Dragon Age, Assassins Creed, Far Cry etc) and most of them will be preferred to play (better res etc) on the PS4. The one exception is Halo, but not sure that a remaster will be enough to sell an XBO to 360 owners who have already played them, or lure PS3 owners when Destiny exists. I actually think it is smart not to release many big exclusives this holiday season, because it is already saturated. There is no room. As always, time will tell.
@WARDIE Agree, agree, agree. Loving the PS4, enjoying the games, but the server issues (Driveclub and PSN in general) need to get sorted. It is not spoiling it for me at this stage, but clearly it can't continue. Also looking forward to more OS updates, but Sony is correct in not making them core/priority.
@WARDIE
It's all personal. I bought a PS4 at launch and 4 months ago a XBox One and I have played more on the X1 than I did on the PS4 because of the games. I like racing games and $ony didnt offer that much so far.
FIFA in 3rd? Da fuq?
I thought the US couldn't stand "soccer"?!
If you look at Minecraft still selling well on last gen you would hope Sony had sense to throw the title into an official bundle, won't happen though I suspect. Bye bye vita.
Sony dominating. Pachter being wrong. No surprises!
Some of you seem to be missing the point. Pachter is VERY good at his job. He's not making predictions he thinks will prove accurate, he's making predictions he knows will be controversial. Analyst Predicts PS4 On Top For Ninth Straight Month would not get him headlines, but this Xbone nonsense did. You laugh, but every time he does this he's rewarded with headlines at every major gaming site and blog. He's paid to troll the gaming industry and he's very good at it.
@Bad-MuthaAdebis Sony is frustrating me every time it deals with vita
If I didn't buy ps4 back then I might be already crazy of bad news. I kinda understand how wii u user feels tho
Wow, yeah with potential sales figures like that it really isn't surprising that the network has buckled a bit under the added strain!!
What has Sony done well recently in the last 6 months that they deserve sales like this, I'm honestly struggling to think of something.
@Jazzer94 They're the 'it' product. Its like 360/Wii last gen, they were the 'it' product compared to their predecessor/follow up.
But in the case of Home consoles this is just Sony following up with their first two platforms. There's more to it than that.
@Donald_M Well that most certainly is interesting.
"his prediction that the PlayStation 4’s winning streak would end in September was, well, wrong"
Two too many commas. I think you meant:
"his prediction that the PlayStation 4’s winning streak would end in September was well wrong"
@Punished_Boss_84 no it aint
@Paranoimia dramatic pauses?
@Donald_M But this behaviour doesn't do jacksh*t for his credibility. Stop making up nonsense for a baffoon so full of himself.
@Boerewors I'm not really sure the PS TV's quality has any implication on the PS4's success. It's a completely separate issue.
@Bad-MuthaAdebis Hmm... could be, I guess!
@get2sammyb
Is it? For me it isn't. It's all part of the PS experience which on paper is awesome: you have a ps4 and a PS tv and you've got your entire house covered. You've got your vita for on the road and services like PSnow and SharePlay complementing all of these bad boys... In theory I'm living in the future I imagined 10 years ago. But the reality is that Sony keeps on rolling out these new kick ass services and awesome new devices, without the proper (server)capacity to back it up. Sony has to go all in to reach the point where every Sony device is somehow able to play their games via the cloud, but is Sony capable of going all in? New services are added each quarter, but instead of calling them services and rolling them out as massively as they are doing, they should call em ideas and they should be on the drawing board so that the experience can be perfected before it launches.
Hopefully October will feature Shadow of Mordor as nr. 1 or Costume Quest 2
@Donald_M Who pays him to troll the gaming industry? How do they profit from it?
@Boerewors resolution parity will only come by means of dumbing down the PS4 version to match the Xbox One version. The PS4 has better, faster hardware and that can't be magically programed around by Xbox devs. Giving back the kinnect power and tweaking their SDK can only go.so far, at the end of the day the hardware just is not capable of the processing that the PS4 is, and this time it doesn't take a brain surgeon to utilize that extra power.
I thought it was just Nintendo fanboys who hated Pachter...
How dare the man do his job and make predictions about the video game industry. Why these predictions or opinions bother everybody is beyond me. Just enjoy the games and consoles that you enjoy and if you don't like what he has to say then just disregard it. How about you just play your games instead of complaining about him on message boards??
Have any of Pachter's big predictions come true? Ever? Even once? Or am I just hearing about the ones that fail?
The PS4 is selling well for a number of reasons, I imagine:
1) It is, without question, the most powerful console this gen.
2) Sony has done a bang-up job of setting the narrative of the PS4 since it was revealed, while Microsoft has been tripping over its own feet trying to market the Xbone and Nintendo just doesn't seem to market the Wii U as much as it should.
3) It's the only console with a reasonable name this gen. Many people still think the Wii U is just an expansion for the Wii, and the Xbox One branding is just confusing.
4) Despite being more powerful than the Xbone, its launch price was far more reasonable than the Xbone's.
5) It has GREAT third-party support this gen.
I haven't owned a Playstation since the PS2, and am more of a Nintendo person myself, but I definitely think Sony did a great job developing a winning console this time around.
Bundle wars!
XBOX ONE CONSOLE + EVIL WITHIN, ALIEN ISOLATION, FORZA 5, DEAD RISING 3, WOLFENSTEIN Bundle £399.85 @ shopto
Which software seized control of my wallet in September? My answer is none, since I usually wait 12 months or until Black Friday/Christmas sales, whichever happens first.
If I had a PS4 right now though, and assuming the game was on sale at Amazon or eBay for $30 New, I would have bought Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor.
(I know there's a PS3 version, but I don't want it)
@Boerewors @Boerewors said the undercover bot! parity? the only reason we have parity for multiplats is because they gimp the ps4 version...because the ps4 has better hardware, gimping the ps4 is the only way you can have parity.
ps4 doesn't have any games that are memorable and x1 does...i can't remember what games the x1 has so can you please tell me.
MS tried to shaft the gaming community in the beginning, or did you already forget? Sony was first to give away two free games per month even if you like indies or not. the console looks better and is made for gaming first, not cheap gimmicks. by the sales numbers,it's obvious no one wanted.
games, ps4 had infamous second son, even if you did't like it, people did and it's a beautiful display of the power of the console.
most multiplats run at a higher resolution then the x1...again u may not think it matters but it does for most people, as you can see by the sales numbers.
hardware! i love the way some people try to act as if these two consoles are almost the same when it comes to specs....they're not, without getting into the numbers for the 100th time ill just say ddr3 720p.
and last, u may think Sony hasn't done anything for their customers but you again would be wrong. from the start the company came out with a certain respect for the gaming community and listened to the developers as to what they wanted in a gaming console, to make it easier for them to make games without any clauses or restrictions. update 2.0 which will be coming out later this month is a game changer...friends of mine sold their x1's as soon as they knew of this feature. in the end it really comes down to people who want more power, more respect and better games in the end...do i really need to remind you of the amazing titles coming out for the ps4? here's two..Uncharted 4 and the order. if someone comes to my door trying to rip me off, i would slam it in their face...if they came back to say sorry and tried giving me a better deal, i would slam the door in their punk ass faces again. MS messed up and almost everyone never forgot it..only the sheep stayed with them.
@sampson3121
Read your comment, should have stopped at "undercover bot". Criticism and backlash from the community made the One a better console. Pretending everything is just fine so "undercover bots" don't win the silly console war which is going on in your head will NOT make Sony realize they have to step it up.
And am not a fanboy and proud owner of all three consoles. The problems I am experiencing with PSN aren't isolated incidents or made up because I like my Xbox better. But since I can compare both PSN and Live, I expect more from Sony. As paying customers I think we all should; coming up with excuses for a huge multinational to justify your own purchase isn't the smartest thing to do imo...Sony needs an incentive to stay the top dog. Succes can make you lazy to a point your almost asleep, the last few weeks it certainly felt like Sony was sleeping as a PS4 and Vita owner.
You keep on chasing them undercover bots, I rather use my right as a consumer to stand up for what I believe in. Bad PR goes a really long way, just ask MS, and I want Sony to be on top of their problems because they will only get worse while more and more servercapacity demanding services are rolled out. If the headlines of even every PS centered sites next couple of months are the same as they were last weeks, I'm afraid the bad press will hurt Sony...not as an undercover bot, but as a GAMER who is actually interested in the industry as a whole.
@Savino
Sales wise that's absolutely true, but if they wanna stay on top they gotta up their game. Outages as frequent as they occur lately are bad publicity...and the competition is just around the corner waiting for their chance.
But somehow it seems we as gamers can't criticize our consoles anymore because of this insane "console war". If last year I had a season ticket for Man United and I saw these overpaid footballers slack off every other week, I would start complaining: I paid good money to see them and based on their dominance the previous years I would at least expect them to give it their all. That doesn't make me an undercover Gunner. I'd still love Man U...but I'd hate to watch them play poorly when we are all doing our part by paying insane amount for season tickets and cheering them on.
This Man U example is completely fictional, I don't like Football..more of a rugby man myself. But if someone on a rugby forum sincerely questions some of the rules I would not think he's an undercover cricket player, I would listen to hear if he has a valid point instead of starting a cricket vs rugby flamewar.
All these console, phone, OS wars are getting the better of me...getting to old for this sh*t.
@Boerewors When it comes to the psn server troubles i agree with you100%,Talking about resolution and how MS is gaining parity? is another story. the only reason some games are almost on par has nothing to do with MS and more to do with development companies gimping the ps4 in order not to upset MS or their fans..like i said before, the only way to achieve parity is to not use the full potential of the ps4. the beauty about hardware is it can be tweaked a little but you basically get what you paid for....or so i thought, until devs decided to gimp the console i purchased. if i here parity i won't buy the game. and in regards to the next three months? we have another analyst on our hands
update 2.0 will be here, and that is a monster update that is sure to move a few more million ps4's. now that analyses you can put your money on.
@Boerewors I hope xbone will start beating them in sales so they step up there game!
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