All Articles: NPD

Call of Duty: WWII leads a huge month for game sales as best-selling game of Nov. 2017

Fans have been asking to send the Call of Duty franchise back to the European Theater for years, and now that Activision has finally delivered, those same fans have gleefully opened their wallets. According to The NPD Group, Call of Duty: WWII was the best-selling game in November, as well as the best-selling game in all of 2017 (so far).

Call of Duty: WWII’s launch helped push November 2017’s total game, hardware, and accessory sales to $2.7 billion, an increase of 30% over last year. Other big performers that fuled the last four weeks of sales included Star Wars: Battlefront II (#2), Assassin’s Creed Origins (#3), Super Mario Odyssey (#6), and a big debut for Need For Speed: Payback (#8).

The complete Top 20 from last month can be found after the break. (more…)

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Middle-Earth: Shadow of War, Assassin’s Creed Origins, and Super Mario Odyssey are October 2017’s best-selling games

A northeastern cold snap proves that Fall is all… as does the massive number of new releases that cracked The NPD Group’s list of best-selling games from October 2017. WB Games’s Middle-Earth: Shadow of War lead the way at #1, but it was closely followed by Assassin’s Creed Origins at #2, Super Mario Odyssey at #3, and South Park: The Fractured But Whole at #4.

Nintendo actually had a huge month, placing four titles in the Top 20 (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (#15), Mario Kart 8 (#16), and Fire Emblem Warriors (#17) were the others), as well as owning the top two hardware platforms. However, GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that overall industry sales still dropped 11% versus October 2016 to $825 million:

With interest in the Switch and the Super NES Classic still sky-high, Nintendo hardware managed to account for two-thirds of the hardware sales generated. That being said, NPD noted that Sony’s PlayStation 4 is still the best-selling hardware platform year-to-date. Furthermore, in the accessories category, the black DualShock 4 wireless controller was both the best-selling accessory of October, and the best-selling accessory year-to-date.

The complete Top 20 from October 2017 can be found after the break. (more…)

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Destiny 2 tops September 2017’s list of best-selling games

Activision has been rather quiet on the Destiny 2 front since the game’s launch, but The NPD Group confirmed this morning that it was the best-selling game during the month of September. It’s doing so well at retail that the tracking firm has also declared Destiny 2 the best-selling game in all of 2017… so far.

Aside from Destiny 2, sports games dominated the sales chart in September, including the debuts of NBA 2K18 (#2), FIFA 18 (#4), and NHL 18 (#8). It was also a good month for games with long tails as Grand Theft Auto V (#7), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (#9), and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (#10) continue to hold onto their slots in the top ten.

You can read more about last month’s best-sellers and view the monthly Top Ten after the break. (more…)

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No surprise there… Madden NFL 18 was the best-selling game in August 2017

It gets harder and harder every year to interpret the NFL rulebook, but one thing is always certain… the latest entry in the Madden NFL series will be the best-selling game in August.

That axiom held true once again this year, as The NPD Group declared that Madden NFL 18 was the best-selling game of last month. August 2017’s other big sellers include Grand Theft Auto V (#2), Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (#3), Splatoon 2 (#4), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (#5), and the newly-launched Agents of Mayhem (#16).

You can read more about last month’s best-sellers and view the monthly Top 20 after the break. (more…)

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Splatoon 2 is swimming in green ink as the best-selling game from July 2017

The first year for Nintendo’s Switch continues to go swimmingly, and another exclusive release for the console has claimed the top spot in The NPD Group’s monthly tally of best-selling games.

Splatoon 2 was the top-selling game in July, beating out Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy (#2) and a resurgent Grand Theft Auto V (#3). Three other Switch games managed to crack the Top 20, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (#5), Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (#7), and Arms (#17).

According to GamesIndustry.biz, the Switch was also the best-selling console in July. Nintendo’s new device is so popular that it helped push monthly sales to $588 million, a 19% increase over July 2016.

The remainder of the Top 20 was made up of the usual suspects, including Tom Clancy games (Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege at #9 and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands at #11) and three Call of Duty games (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered at #12, Call of Duty: Black Ops III at #13, and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare at #15).

The NPD’s complete “Top 20 Best-Selling Games” from July 2017 can be found after the break. (more…)

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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…)

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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…)

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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…)

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