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Take-Two executives discuss big sales for GTA5 and Red Dead 2 while looking ahead to 2019 lineup
Take-Two Interactive delivered another celebratory quarterly financial report last night as the publisher’s latest releases have proven very popular with players.
Leading the charge is Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption 2. More than 24 million copies of the game have been shipped to stores since its launch last October. Take-Two executives also revealed that they’ve shipped more than nine million copies of NBA 2K19 in a similar timeframe.
But the most surprising reveal from yesterday’s report might be the news that Take-Two shipped more than ten million copies of Grand Theft Auto V during the quarter, bringing its lifetime total to 110 million copies after six years on the market.
While the company was happy with their retail performance in 2018, they’re also looking ahead to 2019 with gusto.
According to CEO Strauss Zelnick, 2K Games has already committed to launching NBA 2K20 and WWE 2K20 this Fall:
Also this Fall, 2K will launch new installments of our highly successful annual sports franchises with the releases of NBA 2K20 and WWE 2K20. As always, the development teams behind these games are hard at work to deliver our trademark array of exciting new features and innovations that keep players coming back year after year. 2K will have more to share about these titles in the coming months.
Zelnick later confirmed that Obsidian’s The Outer Worlds and Patrice Desilets’s Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey will be available for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One sometime this year through their Private Division label:
Developed by Obsidian Entertainment, the Outer Worlds marks the reunion of Tim Cain and Leonard Boyarsky, the original creators of Fallout, who are introducing an entirely new single player sci-fi RPG experience. The Outer Worlds will be showcased behind closed doors at E3 to select media and influencers, and more details about the game will be revealed over time. Last month, Private Division hosted press events for Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, where attendees got to play the game and meet its creators at Panache Digital Games, including the studio’s co-founder, Patrice Desilets, who was the original creative director of Assassin’s Creed.
More information about Take-Two Interactive’s full lineup for 2019 (including the previously-announced Borderlands 3) will be announced at this year’s E3 Expo in June.
Posted in News, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One
Tagged Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, Borderlands 3, E3 2019, Grand Theft Auto V, NBA 2K19, NBA 2K20, Red Dead Redemption 2, The Outer Worlds
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
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
Shadow of the Tomb Raider, NBA 2K19, NHL 19, more coming to PS Store this week
A trio of sequels lead the way in this week’s PlayStation Store update…
Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics will close out Lara Croft’s “Origin Trilogy” with the launch of Shadow of the Tomb Raider for the PS4. This time, Lara will travel to South America as she attempts to stop a Mayan apocalypse.
Also available to download this week for the PS4 are a pair of brand new sports simulations. 2K Games brings 20 years of gameplay innovations (and a cover appearance by Giannis “The Greek Freak” Antetokounmpo) to NBA 2K19, while EA Sports tapped P.K. Subban to serve as NHL 19‘s cover athlete.
You can learn more about the rest of this week’s additions to the PlayStation Store after the break. (more…)