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The 1-2 punch of Tekken 7 and Injustice 2 sit atop the best-selling games list for June 2017
Fighting game fans have proven, once again, that the genre is alive and well. According to the NPD Group’s recounting of the best-selling games in June, Tekken 7 (#1) and Injustice 2 (#2) took the top two spots. Nintendo’s bizarro take on the genre, Arms, also made a strong debut in the #5 spot.
Speaking of the Switch, Nintendo’s newest console continued to push the game industry to new heights in June, as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (#6) and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (#7) stayed in the top ten.
Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, NPD Analyst Mat Piscatella said: “The Nintendo Switch has been the catalyst for year-to-date growth. Year-to-date, hardware spending has grown 19% versus 2016 to $1.4 billion.”
However, older titles also performed well in June, including Grand Theft Auto V (#3), Overwatch (#9), and Minecraft (#17). 2015’s Call of Duty: Black Ops III (#12) even managed to outsell 2016’s Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (#15).
A complete look at the Top 20 for June 2017 can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged Arms, Battlefield 1, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, Crash Bandicoot: Warped, FIFA 17, Forza Horizon 3, Grand Theft Auto V, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Injustice 2, Mario Kart 8, Minecraft, MLB The Show 17, NBA 2K17, NPD, Overwatch, Tekken 7, The Elder Scrolls Online, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege
Justice was served as Injustice 2 was the best-selling game of May 2017
NetherRealm Studios has done it again… The NPD Group (via GamesIndustry.biz) has revealed that Injustice 2 was the best-selling game in May.
In the midst of Wonder Woman-mania, the one-on-one fighter beat out the Switch’s heaviest hitters (Mario Kart 8 Deluxe at #2 and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at #4), as well as Prey (#5) and Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadow of Valentia (#7).
Grand Theft Auto V continues to sell well, landing at #3 in the monthly tally. And Blizzard’s Overwatch celebrated its first anniversary by squeaking into the top ten at #10.
A list of May 2017’s top ten best-selling titles can be found after the break. (more…)
The Switch continues to soar as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the best-selling game in April 2017
Nintendo continues to dominate the retail charts with another strong showing in April for their Switch console. According to The NPD Group, Nintendo added another 280,000 Switch consoles to its tally last month, and the newly-launched Mario Kart 8 Deluxe sold more than 459,000 copies (in just two days) to take the top spot on the list of best-selling games. The company’s success also seems to be great for the industry as a whole, as the industry generated $636 million in sales in April 2017, a 10% increase over the year before.
The other big news in April is that Persona 5 pushed the franchise and gave the RPG the #2 spot on the best-seller list, just below Mario Kart 8.
“Persona 5 experienced the strongest debut month for any title in Persona franchise history, with packaged dollar sales five times that of the previous best-selling debut, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4,” NPD Analyst Mat Piscatella told GamesIndustry.biz.
Additional new releases were thin on the ground in last month’s Top 20, but Lego Undercover‘s re-release on the PC and current-generation consoles helped it secure a spot (#13). And as expected, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild continued to sell well, landing in the #3 position for the month. But the big retail winners in April all came from the backlist, including Grand Theft Auto V (#6), Overwatch (#9), Call of Duty: Black Ops II (#10), and Minecraft (#20).
The NPD Group’s complete list of best-selling games for April 2017 can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360
Tagged Battlefield 1, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, For Honor, Grand Theft Auto V, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMix, Lego City Undercover, Lego Worlds, Mario Kart 8, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Minecraft, MLB The Show 17, NBA 2K17, Nier: Automata, NPD, Overwatch, Persona 5, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege
Nintendo smashed sales records in March 2017… but Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands was the top-selling game
Nintendo told us all about their record-setting sales month last week, but the NPD Group made it official today when they revealed their retail report on the video game industry for March 2017.
NPD analyst Sam Naji told GamesIndustry.biz: “March 2017 will go down in history books as the month Nintendo broke records.The Nintendo Switch had the biggest hardware launch for a Nintendo platform and the second biggest launch for any video game platform since 1995, the time NPD began tracking this category.”
However, even though The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild managed to sell more than 900,000 copies, it wasn’t able to secure the #1 spot. Instead, Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands was the best-selling game last month, likely due to Nintendo’s unwillingness to share their digital sales figures with the NPD Group. Other strong sellers on the Switch included 1-2 Switch (#13) and Super Bomberman R (#17).
Big debuts weren’t limited to Nintendo’s Switch, and it was a banner month for several new releases last month, as Mass Effect: Andromeda (#3), Horizon: Zero Dawn (#4), and Nier: Automata (#9) also smashed expectations. Combined with impressive Switch hardware sales, these games helped the industry record more than $1.36 billion in total sales for the month, a 24% year-on-year increase over March 2016.
The complete list of best-selling games from March 2017 can be found after the break. (more…)
Posted in News, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One
Tagged 1-2-Switch, Battlefield 1, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, FIFA 17, For Honor, Grand Theft Auto V, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMix, Lego Worlds, Madden NFL 17, Mass Effect: Andromeda, MLB The Show 17, NBA 2K17, Nier: Automata, NPD, Overwatch, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Super Bomberman R, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier Episode 3, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5, MLB The Show 17, more added to PS Store
It’s another big update for the PlayStation Store this week, so let’s get right to it…
Kingdom Hearts III is still no closer to release, but Square Enix wants to prepare PS4 players with the downloadable release of Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMix. The compilation includes four full Kingdom Hearts games (Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Herts: ReChain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts II, and Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep), and it offers the most complete look back at the franchise’s beginnings.
Telltale continues the story in The Walking Dead: A New Fronter this week with Episode 3: Above the Law. Now available to download for the PS4, players will need to help Javier find a role in his newly reunited family in the middle episode of this season.
Sports fans will have several new choices to choose from this week on the PlayStation Store, including dueling baseball games (MLB The Show 17 and RBI Baseball 2017), an old school hockey game (Old Time Hockey), and a boxing management simulation (Punch Club).
Elsewhere on the PlayStation Store, the “Play Collective” promotion rolls on with the PS4 release of Videocult’s side-scrolling survival game, Rain World.
Finally this week, Ska Studios will bring Salt and Sanctuary, their side-scrolling action RPG, to the Vita.
You can learn more about this week’s additions to the PlayStation Store after the break. (more…)
New Retail Releases: MLB The Show 17, RBI Baseball 2017, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5, More
Play Ball!
Opening Day is just a few days away, and game publishers are getting ready to trot their annual baseball sims onto the retail field. So step up to the plate with Sony and check out the Ken Griffey Jr-fronted MLB The Show 17 for the PS4, or have a catch with MLB Advanced Media and their Corey Seager-fronted RBI Baseball 2017 for the PS4 and Xbox One.
Also set to be released on store shelves this week is Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 ReMix, a repackaging of both Kingdom Hearts compilations from the PS3, now for the PS4. So if you’re itching to replay Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Herts: ReChain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts II, and Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep… here’s your chance.
Further down this week’s retail list, we’ve got the GameStop-exclusive Has-Been Heroes, which will be released for the PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One. The roguelike action/strategy game was developed by Frozenbyte and features a bumbling band of knights protecting a pair of princesses.
Finally this week, Infinifactory is a first-person sci-fi puzzler for the PS4, and the action RPG Vikings: Wolves of Midgard brings a Norse twist to the Diablo formula on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
That’s it for this week’s New Retail Releases report, but we’ll be back later this week with the latest additions to the PlayStation Store, Xbox Games Store, and Nintendo eShop.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMix, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMix, MLB The Show 17, RBI Baseball 2017
Sony will bring 26 playable PS4 games to PAX East 2017
Sony has announced (via the PlayStation Blog, naturally) that they’re bringing 26 PS4 games to this year’s PAX East convention.
By giving attendees more than two dozen demo options, Sony will be able to showcase a wide variety of titles at their booth including AAA blockbusters (Gran Turismo Sport and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy), highly-anticipated indie offerings (Cosmic Star Heroine, Tooth & Tail, and What Remains of Edith Finch), and a few PlayStation VR curiosities (Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin and Farpoint).
Here’s a full look at the 26 PS4 games Sony will bring to PAX East 2017 (though a few of them are also in development for the Vita):
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The 2017 PAX East convention will open its doors this Friday, March 10, at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.
Sony San Diego details MLB The Show 17’s Retro Mode and Twitch livestream schedule
Pitchers and Catchers report in just 19 days… which means the 2017 Major League Baseball season is right around the corner. That also means that Sony San Diego is putting the finishing touches on MLB 17 The Show, which will launch exclusively for the PS4 on March 28.
And like any good skipper, Sony San Diego’s Ramone Russell wants his players to be ready to step into the batter’s box on Opening Day, so the Community Specialist took over the PlayStation Blog to deliver a few more details on the SNES-styled Retro Mode:
Retro mode is pretty much a one-button mode, but with surprising depth, and all the new animations, gameplay additions, and improvements found in the regular version of the game.
For example, in an effort to simplify the batter vs. pitcher battle, we’ve taken all the pitching attributes out and boiled them down to velocity, break, and control. Because there is no high and low in the strike zone, you have three pitches at your disposal that you can trigger with the touch of one button. To throw a fastball you hold down on the left analog stick and press X. To throw a changeup you hold up on the left analog stick and press X. And to throw a slider you press to the left or right on the left analog stick after the pitch is released.
One of the wrinkles we’ve added is that velocity is controlled by holding down or up on the analog stick just before the pitcher releases. In closing, you choose velocity before the pitch is thrown and you can affect movement (left or right) after the pitch is thrown.
Russell also revealed that Sony San Diego will provide a full scouting report on MLB The Show 17’s new modes and features with weekly livestreams on Twitch and Developer Blogs on YouTube beginning February 7.
Finally, if you’re planning to purchase MLB The Show 17 in Canada or Taiwan, Sony also revealed the special cover athletes for those regions. The Canadian cover will feature Aaron Sanchez of the Toronto Blue Jays. Meanwhile, Wei-Yin Chen of the Miami Marlins will appear on the Taiwanese cover.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged MLB The Show 17