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All Articles: Madden NFL 19
Kingdom Hearts III, Resident Evil 2, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe unsurprisingly lead NPD’s list of best-selling games from January 2019
Kingdom Hearts fans were kept waiting more than a decade for the third game in the franchise, but Square Enix finally rewarded their patience with the launch of Kingdom Hearts III last month. As you might have guessed, fans purchased the game in droves, pushing it all the way to the top of The NPD Group’s list of best-selling games from January 2019.
Two highly-anticipated re-releases, Resident Evil 2 (#2) and New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (#3) were close behind, and Bandai Namco’s Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown (#7) and Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition (#12) also cracked the top 20.
However, while several games had strong starts on the sales chart, the industry overall suffered a decline last month versus January 2018. All together, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that total sales (hardware, software, and accessories) were down 19% to $893 million.
You can find a full list of best-selling games from January 2019 after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown, Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, Battlefield V, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, FIFA 19, Grand Theft Auto V, Kingdom Hearts III, Madden NFL 19, Mario Kart 8, Minecraft, NBA 2K19, NPD, Red Dead Redemption 2, Resident Evil 2, Spider-Man, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario Party, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Tales of Vesperia, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Madden 19 flubs Super Bowl LIII prediction as the Patriots defeat the Rams 13-3
There were a lot of big moments at Super Bowl LIII, but they all seemed to be happening on the defensive side of the ball, and that is not what Madden NFL 19‘s official Super Bowl Simulation promised.
The latest entry in EA Sports’s long-running franchise predicted that the Los Angeles Rams would push past the New England Patriots in a tight-knit (but high-scoring) game. But instead of a 30-27 shootout that ultimately favored the west coast franchise, the Patriots managed to stumble their way to victory in real life thanks to a fourth quarter touchdown and a winning score of 13-3. That minuscule scoring line actually made it the lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever.
Super Bowl LIII was one for the old guys as Tom Brady became the oldest quarterback to win a Super Bowl (at age 41), and Bill Belichick did the same as the oldest coach to win “The Big Game” (at age 66). With six Super Bowl Championships, the Patriots tied the Pittsburgh Steelers as the most successful football franchise of all time.
But there’s no joy at EA Sports, for this loss drops Madden’s predictive powers to 10-6 since the publisher first ran an official Super Bowl Simulation in 2004. But EA Sports’s picks have been especially bad in the last six years, correctly picking the winner only twice.
For those keeping track at home, that’s worse than a coin flip.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Madden NFL 19
Madden NFL 19’s Super Bowl LIII simulation predicts the Rams will beat the Patriots
Tom Brady will spend this Sunday looking to capture his sixth Super Bowl Ring, but he might not want to call his jeweler just yet. According to Madden NFL 19‘s official Super Bowl XIII Simulation, the Los Angeles Rams will defeat the New England Patriots by a score of 30 to 27.
EA Sports also uploaded a video featuring gameplay footage from their simulation, and it’s been embedded above. But if everything breaks the same way in real life, Aaron Donald will capture the MVP Award with four sacks, while Jared Goff will throw for over 300 yards:
Aaron Donald finished his dominant season with a Super Bowl record four sacks to cement his first MVP award. Other player highlights included Jared Goff topping Tom Brady by throwing for 303 yards to Brady’s 287 yards, while both garnered two touchdown passes and one interception. Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman and Rams wide receiver Robert Woods both hauled in eight catches and one touchdown for a total of 104 and 103 receiving yards respectively. Pats running back Sony Michel was the top rusher with 103 yards and touchdown, while no Rams player rushed for more than 100 yards, with running back C.J. Anderson maxing out at 64 yards on 18 carries.
Will the Madden series make yet another correct prediction? We’ll all find out this Sunday, February 3, when Super Bowl LIII kicks off at 6:30 PM (Eastern Time).
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Xbox One
Tagged Madden NFL 19
Red Dead Redemption 2 cowboys up as the best-selling game of 2018
A wise man once said, “When you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.” And that’s exactly what Rockstar Games did with Red Dead Redemption 2.
The publisher’s western epic has been nine years in the making, and it blew away all expectations (and chased every other big release away from its October 26 launch date) as the best-selling game in November. Now, The NPD Group has revealed that it’s also the best-selling game for all of 2018.
Activision’s mighty Call of Duty franchise claimed the #2 spot with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, and many of the other usual suspects can be found throughout the top ten including NBA 2K19 (#3), Madden NFL 19 (#4), Far Cry 5 (#7), and Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (#10).
It was also a good year all around for single-player games as Spider-Man (#6) and God of War both cracked the top ten. Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was also able to break into the top five (at #5) after only being on sale for a few weeks. Finally, the surprising success of Capcom’s Monster Hunter: World helped the latest entry in the franchise come in at #9.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, the NPD Group said that the entire game industry generated $16.7 billion in sales in 2018, a 13% increase over 2017. That includes a 33% increase for accessories, as a 7% increase for software, and 8% for hardware. On that note, the Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console of 2018.
The NPD’s Top 10 best-selling games for 2018 (in handy list format) can be found after the break. (more…)
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate beats up the competition as the best-selling game from December 2018
Even though it’s one of Nintendo’s marquee properties, the Smash Bros. series has always drifted a bit below the radar of the average gamer. That is definitely no longer the case, as The NPD Group revealed the best-selling games from December 2018 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate absolutely blew away the competition.
In fact, the tracking firm told GamesIndustry.biz that Smash Bros. Ultimate had a record-setting debut, and set a new “Launch Month” sales record for a platform exclusive. More impressive, it set this record even though Nintendo doesn’t share digital sales data with The NPD Group.
With the gift-giving season in full swing, some of 2018’s biggest games populated the rest of the list. Red Dead Redemption II slid down to #2, and it was followed by Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (#3), Battlefield V (#4), and NBA 2K19 (#5).
Nintendo dominated the back half of the top ten, with three more titles on the list… Mario Kart 8 (#6), Super Mario Party (#8), and Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu (#9). Madden NFL 19 (#7) and Insomniac’s Spider-Man (#10) rounded out the top ten.
A complete look at The NPD Group’s list of the best-selling games from last month (in handy list format) can be found after the break. (more…)
Red Dead Redemption 2 was the best-selling game of November 2018
It took an extra month, but Red Dead Redemption 2 is finally perched atop the NPD’s monthly best-seller list.
According to the tracking firm (as reported by GamesIndustry.biz), Rockstar’s open world epic was November’s best-selling game, topping such contenders as Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (#2), Battlefield V (#3), and Fallout 76 (#4). Other new releases in the top ten include Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu (#4), Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee (#5), and Spyro Reignited Trilogy (#5).
But the most important statistic in the NPD’s November report was on the hardware side of things, as the PS4, Switch, and Xbox One all sold over 1.3 million consoles. It’s the first time ever that three console platforms each sold more than a million units in a calendar month. All told, US consumers purchased more than $3.9 billion worth of video game hardware in November.
A complete look at The NPD Group’s list of the best-selling games from last month can be found after the break. (more…)
CoD: Black Ops 4 comes out on top against Red Dead Redemption 2 in October 2018’s ranking of best-selling games
Once Red Dead Redemption 2 staked a claim on October 26, game publishers ran screaming in the other direction. Ubisoft notably subtracted three weeks from the usual late October launch for the new entries in the Assassin’s Creed series, and Activision pushed the release of the latest entry in the Call of Duty franchise up a full month from its typical early November slot.
But it looks like Activision’s gamble paid off, as The NPD Group has revealed that Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 was last month’s best-selling game. And at #3, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey also performed well in its earlier launch window. Red Dead Redemption 2, which was only on sale for nine days during the sale period, galloped away with the #2 spot.
The NPD Group further noted (via GamesIndustry.biz) that Black Ops 4 is now the owner of the eighth-best launch month (in dollar sales) since they began tracking video game sales in 1995. As you might have guessed, that means its also currently the best-selling game of the year. And it’ll probably hang on to that title through November and December, but it’s hard to completely count out Rockstar Games.
A complete look at The NPD Group’s list of the best-selling games from last month can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, FIFA 19, Madden NFL 19, NBA 2K19, NPD, Red Dead Redemption 2, Spider-Man, Super Mario Party, WWE 2K19
Spider-Man swings into view as the best-selling game from September 2018 (and the biggest PlayStation-exclusive launch ever)
Spider-Man, Spider-Man, sells much better than 2K can… Look out! Here comes the Spider-Man!
Insomniac’s Spider-Man was already swinging pretty high prior to its September 7th launch, but according to The NPD Group (via GamesIndustry.biz) the superhero game is also the best-selling game of last month and the biggest PlayStation-exclusive launch ever. Oh, and it also performed 37% better than “the combined launch month sales for all other Spider-Man games released since 1995.”
Wow.
Spider-Man trounced the competition in September, beating out a ton of new releases in the top ten including NBA 2K19 (#2), Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey (#3), FIFA 19 (#4), Shadow of the Tomb Raider (#5), Forza Horizon 4 (#7), Super Mario Party (#9), and NHL 19 (#10).
Below the top ten, several popular titles continued to prove their resiliency. Grand Theft Auto V (#13), Mario Kart 8 (#14), and Minecraft (#20) have all been hanging around the top of the charts for the last four years, and their new-generation re-releases have likely cemented their spot among the best-sellers for another four.
But you can find the full list of last month’s best-selling games after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, Crash Bandicoot, Destiny 2, Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, FIFA 19, Forza Horizon 4, Grand Theft Auto V, Madden NFL 19, Mario Kart 8, Minecraft, Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker, NBA 2K19, NHL 19, NPD, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Spider-Man, Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario Party, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege, WWE 2K19