PS4 tops February NPD as we all hunker down ahead of Switch launch shake up

Oh boy oh boy, next month's NPD headline might be something different.

The PS4 has once again proved to be the bestselling hardware in the NPD's monthly US retail chart.

This situation has been the norm ever since this generation of consoles debuted, and it's getting a bit dull. We're all pretty excited for next months' report, where hopefully we'll see some change up thanks to the Switch's launch.

In the meantime, though, Sony's success is not surprising - especially given the release of Horizon Zero Dawn right at the end of February and Nioh earlier in the month. Not to mention Resident Evil 7's platform-exclusive VR mode from the end of January.

Xbox only had Halo Wars 2 to fire back with, but it still managed to dig up some positive news in its NPD response statement. According to Microsoft, the hours played on Xbox One in February jumped 11% year-on-year, while unique users increased by 35% year-on-year. So while Xbox may be behind PS4, it's still growing nicely, and that's what's important to Microsoft.

Interestingly though, Xbox said GTA 4 going backwards-compatible helped drive engagement during February. Detractors may scoff, and access to the back catalogue of the Xbox 360 does not make up for a lack of exclusives, but backwards compatibility is a great feature that clearly gets a lot of use.

Anyway, the NPD group will be back next week with a full report on hardware, software and accessories, so stay tuned.