PS4 and Xbox One install base 60 percent larger than last generation, NPD says

The NPD Group's latest report states that the current generation (also referred to as the 8th generation) of game consoles are selling remarkably well, and is in fact growing the market when compared to the previous generation of hardware.

"The combined hardware install base of PlayStation 4 and Xbox One," said Liam Callahan, "is close to 60 percent higher than the cumulative hardware totals for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 at the same point in their lifecycles (after 15 months)."

Those numbers, Callahan told Polygon, do account for the different launch dates of the PS3 and the 360. "It adds up the 15 month total for 360 (starting from Nov. 2005) and the 15 month total for PS3 (starting from Nov. 2006)."

Console gaming is growing faster than it did nearly a decade ago, and that growth may accelerate as the consoles drop in price. Hardware isn't the only area that's seeing growth.

Software sales in total rose roughly 5 percent year over year, while the current generation software sales jumped by 74, versus a 36 percent decrease in software sales for the previous generation.

There was also a 3 percent bump in peripheral sales, largely attributed to the owners of new consoles picking up the odds and ends they need to get playing, items like headphones and extra controllers.

"Increased accessory spending for eighth generation console ... gamepads as well as headphones/headsets," Callahan said, "offset any seventh generation console and portable accessory spending declines."