All Articles: NPD
The greatest trick CoD: Advanced Warfare ever pulled was being Nov 2014’s best-selling game
Activision’s Call of Duty franchise continues its reign atop the video game world by capturing the top spot in The NPD Group’s survey of November 2014’s best-selling games. It managed to hold off a strong challenge from Grand Theft Auto V, which received a huge boost from its new-generation re-release.
Nintendo had a very good month as Super Smash Bros. For Wii U and Super Smash Bros. For 3DS managed to sneak into the top three thanks to their combined might (The NPD Group considers them one game for the purposes of the monthly list). Further down the list, Pokemon: Alpha Sapphire shot to #5 while Pokemon: Omega Ruby owned the #7 spot (for some reason, the latest Pokemon release is considered two separate games by The NPD Group).
Ubisoft also had multiple games in the top ten, including Far Cry 4 at #6. Assassin’s Creed: Unity entered the list at #9, and while that’s an impressive achievement, it’s well below the top-three ranking attained by both Assassin’s Creed III and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag during their respective debut months.
Finally, Microsoft has plenty to crow about tonight as they’ve revealed to IGN that that the Xbox One outsold the PS4 for the first time.
The full top ten for November 2014 can be found after the break. (more…)
NBA 2K15 smashes to the top of Oct 2014 best-seller list (yes, even over Smash Bros 3DS)
Even though the month of October saw the release of a new Borderlands game and the first Smash Bros. title for a handheld, NBA 2K15 emerged victorious in The NPD Group’s recounting of the best-selling games of October 2014.
The basketball sim managed to hold off a pair of new releases as well as the continued sales success of Super Smash Bros. For 3DS (which landed at #2). A trio of new releases, The Evil Within (#3), Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (#4), Skylanders: Trap Team (#6), were close behind.
And believe it or not, but Minecraft continues to hold a spot in the top ten as the retail release of the PlayStation 4 Edition propelled it into #10 on the list. Sunset Overdrive, Microsoft’s big Xbox One exclusive for the Fall, did not make the top ten though Joystiq is reporting that it was the ninth best-selling game among individual titles.
This month’s top ten can be found in a handy list format after the break. (more…)
Destiny was destined to be the best-selling game of September 2014
After selling more than five million copies in its first week of availability, Bungie’s Destiny easily took the top spot as the best-selling game of September 2014. New releases ruled last month as The NPD Group’s latest report revealed that seven games cracked the top ten.
At #3, EA’s FIFA 15 challenged Destiny for the crown, but came up short. It was followed by Super Smash Bros. For 3DS (#4), Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor (#5), NHL 15 (#6), The Sims 4 (#8), and Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes (#9). The only holdovers were Madden NFL 15 (#2), Minecraft (#7), and Diablo III: Reaper of Souls (#10).
According to Joystiq, despite Destiny’s massive success, game industry sales only grew by 2% over September 2013. Of course, September 2013 featured the release of Grand Theft Auto V, a singularly special event, and downloadable titles are constantly eating into retail’s market share. But good luck getting The NPD Group to admit to that.
This months top ten can be found in a handy list format after the break. (more…)
Madden NFL 15 spikes the competition by outselling all games in August 2014
Even though his stance said, “stop,” Richard Sherman took it to the house as the cover athlete of Madden NFL 15. While it’s too early to be concerned with The Curse, EA Sports’ latest football sim, as expected, toppled the competition and emerged as the best-selling game of August 2014, according to The NPD Group.
Only a small number of new releases made their way onto store shelves last month and many of them were re-releases of older titles. This tactic helped Diablo III: Reaper of Souls reach the #2 spot as the “Ultimate Evil Edition” is now available for previous-generation and current-generation consoles. And thanks to its PlayStation debut, Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare cracked the top ten for the first time at #7.
Joystiq posits that this lack of major releases is the reason why game sales were down when compared to last August. The eighth month of 2013 saw the release of Madden NFL 25 as well as Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Saints Row IV, and Disney Infinity.
A full look at the top ten best-selling games of August 2014 can be found after the break. (more…)
The Last of Us returns to the top of the best-seller list in July 2014 NPD report
In previous years, the best-sellers chart for the month of July would normally be dominated by the latest entry in the NCAA Football series. But EA Sports canceled the series last Fall, so a new emperor is sitting upon the July Throne in 2014. Or rather, an emperor we’ve seen before in a spiffy new set of clothes.
This is a roundabout way of saying that the Remastered re-release of Sony’s The Last of Us (combined with more sales on the PS3) pushed the game to the top of the best-sellers chart. July was a pretty sparse month as far as new releases go, but 505’s Sniper Elite III also cracked the top ten. It was number eight… with a bullet.
You can check out July’s complete top ten list (which includes May releases Watch Dogs and Mario Kart 8 hanging tough in the top five) after the break. (more…)
June 2014 NPD: Watch Dogs and Mario Kart 8 are the top-selling titles once again
Watch Dogs and Mario Kart 8 once again reign supreme over the monthly sales chart as The NPD Group has confirmed the two titles were #1 and #2, respectively, in their June 2014 top-selling games report. The two games were part of a trend that included other May releases such as Minecraft (#3) and Wolfenstein: The New Order (#7).
The only June releases to crack the top ten were EA Sports UFC (#4) and Tomodachi Life (#9),
With Microsoft’s Kinect-less Xbox One hit store shelves in June, so the battle between the next-generation heated up just as the thermometer did. According to Joystiq, the PS4 once again topped the Xbox One, though all console sales more than doubled (a 106% increase, to be exact) the month of May. Ultimate, the entire industry saw a 24% increase in sales over the last month… and that includes a big jump in Wii U hardware sales too.
You can view the complete top ten chart for the month of June after the break. (more…)
Watch Dogs hacks its way into our hearts as the best-selling game of May 2014
We were already pretty aware of the fact that a lot of copies of Watch Dogs and Mario Kart 8 were sold in the last week of May. Now, the NPD Group has made it official by releasing their official report of the best-selling games of May 2014.
Not surprisingly, Watch Dogs took the gold while Mario Kart 8 had to settle for the silver. The top ten was populated by several other May releases including Wolfenstein: The New Order (#4) and Kirby: Triple Deluxe (#9). A retail release of Minecraft on the PS3 also pushed that game back into the top five (#5, to be exact).
According to Joystiq, the NPD Group also confirmed that the PS4 has outsold the Xbox One for the fifth straight month. You can view the complete top ten list from the month of May after the break. (more…)
TitanFall stomps the competition yet again as the best-selling game of April 2014
After selling 925,000 copies in March, TitanFall continued to roll over the competition at retail as the NPD Group crowned it the best-selling game of April 2014 as well.
The remainder of the top ten was made up almost entirely of games released last Fall including Call of Duty: Ghosts (#2), NBA 2K14 (#3), and Lego The Hobbit (#5). Amazingly, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition continues to hang out in the top five, landing at #4 for the month of April. That ranking may improve next month now that the retail version of Minecraft: PlayStation 3 Edition is available. And speaking of things that are amazing, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was the only other April release to crack the top ten (it was #8).
Finally, according to Joystiq, Sony’s PlayStation 4 can lay claim to the next-generation consoles sales title for another month. That makes four in a row for the PS4.
The complete top ten list for April 2014 can be found after the break. (more…)