Xbox One outsells PS4 in July in the US

Microsoft has come out on top in terms of hardware sales during July, according to the NPD Group.

The NPD group has revealed one bit of detail from the upcoming July report, confirming that Xbox One was the top selling console in the US during the month.

In July, Microsoft cut the price of the basic model to $250, a reduction from $280 in June. These cuts were believed to help clear out stock before the slim Xbox One S' launch this month, which is obviously not counted in this NPD report.

"We’re honoured that Xbox One was the best-selling console in the U.S. in July, and that total gaming hours on Xbox consoles globally were up 18 percent over last year, reaching 1.55 billion hours," Xbox marketing boss Mike Nichols told VentureBeat.

Although the price cuts certainly helped, Microsoft said excitement for the brand coming out of E3 was a factor.

"Following its release last week, the 2TB launch edition of Xbox One S sold out in the U.K. and is nearly sold out in the U.S.," added Nichols.

"Later this month on August 23, we will launch 500GB and 1TB options for Xbox One S at $299 and $349, respectively. We’re excited about all the fun gamers are having on Xbox One and all the new releases we’ll be bringing them this holiday."

July is relatively a slow month, so it'll be interesting to see how the various games chart when the full July report is released.