People spent US$241m on videogame hardware, predominately consoles, in January compared with US$205m in the same month a year earlier, when a fifth "leap week" gave figures a particular boost, according to industry tracker NPD Group.
Sony's PS4 led overall hardware sales, followed by Microsoft new-generation Xbox One consoles, NPD reported.
"PS4 sales were nearly double that of the Xbox One in the month," Sony said citing the NPD report.
"Demand for PlayStation 4 remains incredibly strong," said Sony PlayStation's brand marketing senior VP Guy Longworth. "It's clear gamers are choosing PlayStation as the best place to play."
According to Sony membership in the PlayStation Plus subscription service for games, films, and other digital entertainment has nearly doubled since the PS4 launched in November.
Meanwhile, videogame software sales sank by about 40% in November to US$224m, down from US$373m in January of last year.
"The decline was due to a big drop in the number of new titles released for play," said NPD analyst Liam Callahan.
Activision's military shooter game "Call of Duty: Ghosts" was the best selling game on a "top 10" list that included "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag" and "Grand Theft Auto V."
According to NPD traditional format videogame sales overall for January were US$664m, down 21% from January last year but nearly flat if the extra "leap" week is factored in.
NPD said that when money spent on mobile games, rentals, digital downloads, subscriptions and social network play are added in, sales for January totalled US$1.05bn.
Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge
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