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We suppose that these NPD reports are starting to get a little bittersweet. As has been the case since launch, the PlayStation 4 is really thriving in the United States, and it's once again managed to register yet another consecutive month of growth. But while the graphs at Sony keep pointing upwards, the American industry as a whole isn't doing as well.

Once again, February 2016 saw sales slip by 12 per cent year-over-year, with both hardware and software down. It's worth remembering that the New 3DS launched during the same period in 2015 which may account for some of the hardware shrinkages, but software shouldn't have slipped by 10 per cent with new releases like Street Fighter V and Far Cry Primal on the docket.

To be fair, the former's struggles are well documented by now, and it probably won't come as much of a surprise that it could only manage seventh position. Far Cry Primal, incredibly, topped the best sellers list – potentially kickstarting a crazy couple of months for publisher Ubisoft commercially, with The Division almost certainly assured the crown in March.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III stretched its legs in second, while Grand Theft Auto V continued to hijack wallets in third. Meanwhile, newcomer Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 proved that there are more weebs in the world than Robert Ramsey, as familiar favourites like NBA 2K16 and Fallout 4 padded out the remainder of the top ten.

Most of the games sold best on the PS4, with Sony acknowledging as much in its celebratory press release. "We would like to thank our fans and partners for making PS4 the top-selling hardware platform and the software sales leader in February. We continued to see strong year-over-year sales growth for PS4 hardware and software and are truly humbled by the support."

There's not much else to say these days, is there? We genuinely can't see the Japanese giant's system getting knocked from its perch any time soon – it's going to be a tough end to the generation for Microsoft, and unless Nintendo can do something to upset the balance, we suspect that we're going to be dry on sales-related Talking Point ideas for quite a while.

Top Ten Physical Retail Releases: February 2016

  1. Far Cry Primal (PS4, Xbox One)
  2. Call of Duty: Black Ops III (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)
  3. Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)
  4. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 (PS4, Xbox One)
  5. NBA 2K16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
  6. LEGO Marvel's Avengers (PS4, 360, Xbox One, Wii U, PS3, 3DS, Vita)
  7. Street Fighter V (PS4)
  8. Minecraft (360, Xbox One, PS4, PS3)
  9. Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright (3DS)
  10. Fallout 4 (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

[source venturebeat.com, via neogaf.com]