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NBA 2K16, Madden NFL 16 lead off September 2015’s top ten list of best-selling games
Sports! Sports! Sports! Sports!
Sports! Sports! Sports! Sports!
With the Fall gaming rush off to a slow start, Electronic Arts and 2K Games more-or-less split the month with four sports titles in the NPD Group’s monthly top ten. NBA 2K16 slammed it home to take the #1 spot, while EA’s Madden NFL 16 slipped to #2 in its second month on the chart. Rounding out this month’s murderer’s row was FIFA 16, which bicycled kicked its way into the #4 spot; and NHL 16, which safely skated into the #9 spot.
While most of this Fall’s biggest games are still a few weeks away, new releases did take up the majority of the remaining slots. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain sent off Hideo Kojima in style with a #3 ranking, while Bungie’s Destiny: The Taken King expansion took the #5 spot. Nintendo’s Super Mario Maker was the only platform-exclusive title to break into the top ten and it did so at #6. A pair of licensed games, Disney Infinity: Star Wars at #7 and Mad Max at #8, claimed the next two spots.
Finally, Minecraft continues to hold on by claiming the #10 slot. Expect Mojang’s creation to rise as we get closer to the holiday shopping season.
September 2015’s top ten can be viewed in handy list format after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Destiny, Disney Infinity: Star Wars, FIFA 16, Mad Max, Madden NFL 16, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, Minecraft, NBA 2K16, NHL 16, NPD, Super Mario Maker
BOOM! Madden NFL 16 is the best-selling game of August 2015
Whatever your opinion of Tom Brady and Deflategate (for the record, I agree with Tony Kornheiser, the suspension was “completely unjust”), it looks like nobody can take the air out of EA’s Madden NFL franchise. And don’t just take my word for it. The latest entry in the series, Madden NFL 16, topped the NPD Group’s newest monthly report and was declared the best-selling game of August 2015.
Madden NFL 16’s ascendance to the top of the list was a foregone conclusion, but August was an unusually quiet month for new releases. Just look at the three remakes/re-releases that broke into the top ten. Gears of War: Ultimate Edition chainsawed its way into the #3 spot, while the 30 games in the Rare Replay compilation collectively landed at #6. Finally, a Combo Pack containing Call of Duty: Black Ops + Call of Duty: Black Ops II claimed the #8 position (two spots ahead of Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare at #10, I might add). The only other new release to crack the top ten was Sony’s Until Dawn at #7.
But the real story of the month might be that Minecraft continues to sell. Even though its been available on the PS4 and Xbox One since last year (and another year on the PS3 and Xbox 360), the game continues to sell month after month. Only Madden NFL 16 was able to outpace Mojang’s creation in August as Minecraft is sitting at #2 on the best-sellers list.
A complete look at August 2015’s top ten is available after the break. (more…)
When Dinosaurs Ruled the Charts… Lego Jurassic World is best-selling game of July ’15
July is not typically a very strong month for new game releases, and only a single new title was able to crack the NPD Group’s recounting of the ten best-selling games of the month. But it was Lego Jurassic World, a June release, that sits at the top of the sales food chain this month.
Debuting at #3 in the NPD’s June report, Lego Jurassic World likely got a boost from the tremendous box office support for the film. After nearly nine weeks in theaters, the film has earned more than $636 million. Only Titanic ($658 million) and Avatar ($760 million) have made more money at the domestic box office.
While it’s unlikely that Lego Jurassic World will reach those heights, the game is another hit for WB Games, which had yet another big month in July. Batman: Arkham Knight (#2) and Mortal Kombat X (#8) once again both landed in the top ten.
The only new release to break into the top ten last month was EA’s Rory McIlroy PGA Tour. Before McIlroy, Tiger Woods had been PGA Tour’s pitchman for more than 15 years. As great as Tiger used to be, it looks like EA doesn’t need him to sell their golf game.
Finally this month, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that overall sales of all game-related items (hardware, software, and accessories) is roughly even with July 2014. Both July 2014 and July 2015 produced around $184 million in total sales.
The complete top ten for July 2015 can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Vita, Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Destiny, FIFA 15, Grand Theft Auto V, Lego Jurassic World, Minecraft, Mortal Kombat X, NPD, Rory McIlroy PGA Tour, The Elder Scrolls Online
It’s Always Blocky in Minecraft… because Rob McElhenney is directing the movie
Have you heard? Word on the Internet is that there’s going to be a Minecraft movie coming out… sometime. There’s really no information on it just yet. But here’s one thing we do know, the director of the film has been announced to be It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia‘s Rob McElhenney.
McElhenney has mad credits on Sunny for creating, writing, producing, directing, and starring as Ronald “Mac” McDonald… not to mention snagging colleague and funny lady Kaitlin Olson. The announcement was made in a succinct blog post from Mojang, which offered no other information about the project. While McElhenney’s ascension to the position remains a temporarily confusing but delightful mystery, we have noticed some fun similarities between Minecraft and several recurring Sunny characters.
Minecraft aficionados will certainly remember the Creepers, which are very reminiscent of the infamous Green Man (Charlie Day’s Charlie, high out of his mind, in a full-body green spandex suit), who first debuted in the season three episode “The Gang Gets Invincible.” And who can forget Day Man and the creepily suggestive Night Man, which viewers may recall from Charlie’s weird musical, “The Nightman Cometh,” from the end of season four. Both characters seem to parallel the protagonist “Steve” and the mysterious Enderman.
With these concurrent elements in mind, McElhenney now seems like a natural fit for the film. It almost begs the question, was Notch just a huge Sunny fan all along?
Mortal Kombat X was the best-selling game in the first half of 2015
Fortune has scoured the last six months of data from The NPD Group to assemble a definitive list of the best-selling games from the first half of the year.
Surprisingly, or perhaps unsurprisingly when you realize just how few games have been released this year, NetheRealm’s Mortal Kombat X took the top spot. The latest game in the long-running series paved the way for WB Games’s complete domination of the sales chart. The publisher secured four spots in the half-year top ten including Batman: Arkham Knight (#6), Dying Light (#7), and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (#9). Arkham Knight’s appearance on the list is even more impressive as it was released in the last week of June.
Among the holdovers, Grand Theft Auto V (#2), Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (#4), and Minecraft (#5) all broke into the top five. It’s likely that all three will stick around for the year-end list as well.
The complete top ten list can be found right here:
Bestselling Games in the First Half of 2015
1. Mortal Kombat X
2. Grand Theft Auto V
3. Battlefield Hardline
4. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
5. Minecraft
6. Batman: Arkham Knight
7. Dying Light
8. NBA 2K15
9. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
10. Super Smash Bros. For 3DS / Super Smash Bros. For Wii U
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Batman: Arkham Knight, Battlefield Hardline, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Dying Light, Grand Theft Auto V, Minecraft, Mortal Kombat X, NBA 2K15, NPD, Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Batman: Arkham Knight stands watch atop the best-selling games list for June 2015
Rocksteady’s Arkham trilogy went out with a bang last month, and it looks like a lot of fans went along for the ride, as The NPD Group has confirmed Batman: Arkham Knight was the best-selling game for June 2015.
Aside from the problems with the PC version, WB Games had a pretty good month as four of the publisher’s titles placed in the top ten. Newcomer Lego Jurassic World joined Arkham Knight near the top of the list in the #3 spot, while The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (#4) and Mortal Kombat X (#8) held over from May. NPD’s Liam Callahan told GamesIndustry.biz, “Warner Bros. Interactive is the top corporate publisher so far in 2015, with dollar sales growing 217% versus the first half of 2014.”
But WB Games wasn’t the only company having a nice Summer as Bethesda has a hit on their hands with The Elder Scrolls Online. It was also a good month to be a squid as Nintendo’s Splatoon held strong at #5, and became the only platform exclusive to crack the top ten.
The industry as a whole should be very happy about last month’s sales as consumers spent a lot more than they did last year. Overall sales were up 18%, $869 million versus $734 million, over June 2014. And that includes increases in hardware (+8%), software (+21%), and accessories (+34%).
The complete top ten list of best-selling games for June 2015 can be found after the break. (more…)
The Witcher 3 hunts down the top spot as May 2015’s best-selling game
The NPD Group has published their monthly report on the financial state of the video game industry and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has emerged as the best-selling game of May 2015.
The Witcher 3’s victory was assured after the game leapfrogged both of April’s big releases including Mortal Kombat X (#2) and Grand Theft Auto V (#3). The only other May release to make the list, Nintendo’s Splatoon, swam its way into the fifth spot. Though Splatoon should get extra notice for being the only platform-exclusive title in the top ten.
All told, retail sales for games, hardware, and accessories were down 13% versus May 2014. However, Mario Kart 8, Watch Dogs, Wolfenstein: The New Order, and the continued success of TitanFall more than explain the sales gap. The drop-off might have been even bigger if it weren’t for a new wave of Amiibo figures. According to NPD’s Liam Callahan (speaking to GamesIndustry.biz), accessories rose 20% year-over-year, with a 73% increase for “interactive gaming toys.” Callahan also confirmed that the PS4 was the best-selling console of the month.
The complete top ten list of best-selling games for May 2015 can be found after the break. (more…)
Flawless Retaility! Mortal Kombat X tops April 2015’s list of best-selling games
Mortal Kombat X killed the competition last month as it’s been crowned the top-selling game of April 2015 by The NPD Group. Aside from NetherRealm’s latest and Dark Souls II: Scholar of the First Sin at #8, the tracking firm’s report showed a top ten that was comprised solely of returning titles including Grand Theft Auto V at #2, Battlefield Hardline at #3, MLB 15: The Show at #4, and the well-loved Minecraft at #5.
Overall, it was a good month for the game industry as total sales rose 3% over April 2014. It’s a small gain, but it’s a gain nonetheless.
“Overall sales across hardware, new physical software, and accessories in April 2015 grew by 3% over April 2014 due to the strength of new physical software sales, which offset losses from hardware and accessories,” The NPD Group’s Liam Callahan told GamesIndustry.biz.
April 2015’s top ten best-selling titles (which also includes CoD: Advanced Warfare, NBA 2K15, the fourth Super Smash Bros. game, and a remastered Borderlands collection) can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in 3DS, News, PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Battlefield Hardline, Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Dark Souls II, Grand Theft Auto V, Minecraft, MLB 15: The Show, Mortal Kombat X, NBA 2K15, NPD, Super Smash Bros. For 3DS, Super Smash Bros. For Wii U