Xbox One outsells PS4 in April as Mortal Kombat X tops game sales

Xbox One outsold PlayStation 4 in the U.S. during April, according to NPD's monthly industry report on game and console sales. The top-selling packaged game was Mortal Kombat X.

As is tradition, the two leading console makers released statements about their respective performances. NPD does not release actual sales numbers to the public, selling those to interested parties.

"As the best-selling console in the U.S. in April, fans set record April sales and engagement for Xbox One last month," said Xbox marketer Mike Nichols. "Xbox One console sales in the U.S. increased 63 percent in April 2015 compared to April 2014 and Xbox Live comparisons showed the number of active global users (Xbox One and Xbox 360) grew 24 percent."

Sony released a statement thanking fans for their support, adding that "PlayStation continues to lead software sales for April 2015 and PS4 remains the cumulative sales leader in the U.S."

Nintendo offered a statement that sales of its Wii U and 3DS hardware systems have collectively "increased by nearly 50 percent" for April, year-on-year. The company added that total Wii U sales in 2015 "increased by nearly 15 percent over sales during the first four months of 2014," with sales of Super Mario 3D World now more than 2 million in the United States.

In the software charts, which do not count digital downloads, Mortal Kombat X led against chart stalwarts and sports updates like Grand Theft Auto 5, Battlefield: Hardline, MLB 15: The Show, Minecraft and NBA 2K15.

According to Nintendo, new 3DS release Xenoblade Chronicles 3D was the fifth best-selling game in April on a single platform. NPD's game sales charts are multi-platform based.

Overall console and physical game sales were up 3 percent year-on-year from $580 million to $596 million with game sales up 13 percent year-on-year to $228 million.