In the war of the next-gen video game systems, Microsoft's Xbox One is still trailing Sony's PlayStation 4, but the gap is narrowing, according to new data from The NPD Group.
The research firm on Friday reported that the PS4 was the best-selling game console in the U.S. last month, narrowly beating out the Xbox One . Microsoft's new console sold "over 90 percent of what the PS4 sold in terms of unit sales," but thanks to its higher price point, Redmond actually made more money, beating out Sony's system on a dollar basis, NPD analyst Liam Callahan said in a statement.
In January, PS4 sales were nearly double that of Xbox One.
In a blog post, Microsoft said it sold 258,000 Xbox One units in February, surpassing its 114,000 Xbox 360 unit sales by more than 61 percent. The new sales figures follow this week's highly anticipated launch of Titanfall.
"Since it launched on Tuesday, the Xbox community has been out in force playing 'Titanfall' on Xbox Live," Microsoft said. Xbox 360 gamers will have the chance to play Titanfall when it launches on the seventh-generation console March 25.
Meanwhile, total U.S. video game hardware sales saw a 42 percent lift last month, reaching $347 million, due to a more than 60 percent increase in console purchases, NPD said. "Within console hardware, we continue to see strong year-over-year increases due to the success of the Xbox One and PS4," Callahan said.
Overall sales of new hardware, software, and accessories totaled $887 million in February, up 9 percent from the same time last year. NPD estimated that used and rental sales totaled $131 million while digital format sales brought in $512 million, bringing total U.S. video game sales to around $1.47 billion in February.
On the software side, Call of Duty: Ghosts was the top-selling game last month, followed by The LEGO Movie Videogame, NBA 2K14, Thief, and Grand Theft Auto V. Rounding out the top 10 were: Battlefield 4, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Minecraft, and Bravely Default.
For more, see Xbox One vs. PlayStation 4: Top Consoles Compared.