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Call of Duty didn’t top the yearly sales charts for one of the first times since 2009
Call of Duty has been a fixture at the top of the yearly sales charts since 2009. This year, however, Hogwarts Legacy sold more copies, and it’s possible the same is true of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
AR and VR hardware sales more than doubled in the US this holiday
Sales of AR and VR devices more than doubled during the 2021 holiday season — and it wasn't just due to console shortages.
We're still spending record amounts on gaming, a year into the pandemic
Video game sales hit another record in March 2021 thanks to the PS5, Switch and a handful of hit games.
People are still spending record amounts on gaming in the US this year
If it wasn’t already obvious that the coronavirus has been a boon for the video game market, industry analysts at the NPD Group have more evidence. The reliable market-tracking firm says that people spent more on video games in the US in the second quarter than ever before.
NPD's best-selling games of the decade charts 'Call of Duty' domination
As usual, the NPD group has rounded up sales stats for the last month, but with the flip from 2019 to 2020 it is also listing some of the best sellers over the last ten years. Grand Theft Auto V is the best selling game across all platforms and outlets tracked from 2010 through the end of 2019, but otherwise the top ten is dominated by the Call of Duty series, with Red Dead Redemption at number 7 and Minecraft at number 10 as the only other titles. Grand Theft Auto V Call of Duty: Black Ops Call of Duty: Black Ops II Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Call of Duty: Black Ops III Call Of Duty: Ghosts Red Dead Redemption II Call of Duty: WWII Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII Minecraft Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Mario Kart 8 Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Battlefield 1 Battlefield 4 Destiny The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Star Wars Battlefront 2015 In fact, Call of Duty accounted for 10 of the top 15 selling games over the last decade, with Infinite Warfare just making the list. The PlayStation 4 is the top selling console over the last ten years, and the DualShock 4, accordingly, is the best-selling accessory. Still, Nintendo managed to grab the sales crown for December and 2019 as a whole, and as we head into a new decade with a new generation of systems on the way things look wide open.
'Super Smash Bros. Ultimate' is the best selling fighting game in US history
November is always a big month for videogame sales, and just ahead of tonight's Game Awards, the NPD has dropped off some sales stats for the US. The most notable part that we saw is the news that "Super Smash Bros Ultimate is now the best-selling Fighting game in U.S. history." It has dethroned the 2008 Wii title Super Smash Bros. Brawl in lifetime dollar sales. This new title arrived quickly after Nintendo announced in November that SSBU is the best-selling fighting game worldwide, with more than 15.71 million copies sold compared to Street Fighter II's 15.5 million. It's no surprise then, that Nintendo plans even more fighters for its hit game, even as it rests at number two in sales this year topped only by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. The shooter is also number one for November and the last twelve months overall, with Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order coming in at number two for the month. Hardware sales dropped by 26 percent from last year as a new console generation approaches, but the Switch is still the best seller. In accessories, the best-selling item (by dollar sales) is the new Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2.
'Anthem' was the top-selling game in the US this February
BioWare may be racing to fix Anthem after its bumpy launch, but it doesn't have to worry quite so much about its bottom line. NPD Group data shows that the shared-world shooter was the top-selling game in the US in February, and the second strongest game for 2019 up to that point (Kingdom Hearts III is the year's current champion). Moreover, this was the second best launch month for a BioWare game, falling only behind Mass Effect 3's debut in 2012.
One in six American adults now wear a computer on their wrist
The days of smartwatches as niche devices might be over, at least in the US. The NPD Group estimated that smartwatch sales jumped 61 percent in the 12-month span ending in November 2018. That's no mean feat when some companies scaled back their efforts or quit the field entirely. The analyst firm also determined that 16 percent of American adults, or about a sixth of the group, now own smartwatches. There's a good possibility that you'll see someone with a smartwatch if you walk down the street, to put it differently.
Nintendo Switch outsold every other console in the US last year
Demand for the Nintendo Switch didn't cool down one iota in 2018. The NPD Group has published its sales data for last year, and the Switch was the top-selling system in the US both in terms of dollars and raw unit count, outpacing a previous record set by the PS4 in 2015. Things were even rosier in December -- the Switch had the best unit sales of any console for that month since 2010, and the best dollar sales since the Wii mania of December 2009.
Nintendo's NES Classic outsold Xbox One and PS4 in June
June was a pretty great month for Nintendo, as it was the month's top-selling games publisher; Mario Tennis Aces was the biggest-selling title even without counting its digital sales. And, because we'll never not want to play Super Mario Bros., more people bought the NES Classic Edition than any other console.
'Destiny 2' is 2017’s best-selling game after just one month
If you have friends who own video game consoles, chances are you heard a lot about Destiny 2 in the last month. But anecdotal evidence that the game was everywhere just got backed up by some astonishing sales figures. Just one month after launching on PS4 and Xbox One, Destiny 2 is already the best-selling game of 2017, according to an NPD Group report -- which was released a day before the game comes out on PC.
Nintendo's fastest-selling console ever couldn't top 'Zelda'
Nintendo has been proclaiming that the Switch is its fastest-selling console ever since the system launched, but now it has numbers to back that up. Based on NPD reports, it says the Switch sold 906,000 units in the US in March. What's surprising, however, is that The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is not just its fastest-selling launch title of all time, its Switch version actually outsold the console, moving 925,000 copies (add 460,000 for the Wii U and you have 1.3 million total).
NPD estimates video game industry raked in $30.4 billion in 2016
The video game industry tracker NPD Group has occasional releases throughout the year, tallying up things from the month's top-selling games to console vs. console sales to how many NES Classic Editions flew off the shelves back in November. But it's the annual revenue generation that draws real attention as a loose report card for the industry, and last year's has just come out. In 2016, NPD estimates that consumers spent $30.4 billion on games and accessories, which is a modest $200 million more than in 2015.
Nintendo sold 196,000 NES Classic Editions in November
The NES Classic Edition has become a tough gift to find during this holiday season. Cheers to those who've already located one (or two), but according to industry tracker NPD, Nintendo sold 196,000 pieces of nostalgia-bait to US customers between its launch and the end of November. Compare that to Media-Create's numbers, which showed Japanese sales of the Classic Mini Famicom surpassed 261k units in just one week. Clearly, the demand is there, but the question is if Nintendo will be able to make enough of the systems available before the holiday rush is over. (If it follows this up with an SNES Classic Edition, we'll probably be lining up all over again.)
Xbox One S helped Microsoft outsell the PS4 in August
The Xbox One outsold the PlayStation 4 in August, thanks to a boost from Microsoft's latest console, the Xbox One S. A 2TB model of the Xbox One S hit shelves on August 2nd for $400 and sales of the new console are bundled under the broader "Xbox One" banner. The Xbox One S supports HDR, 4K gaming, streaming and Blu-ray, and it's 40 percent smaller than the launch model.
'Overwatch' was June's best-selling game, even with a handicap
In case you haven't noticed, Overwatch is really, really popular. Popular enough to support millions of active players, host high-stakes professional competitive gaming drama and even inspire a graphic novel adaptation. All this, and the game's barely three months old. Still not convinced? Okay, we've got one more thing: Overwatch sold better than any other game in June -- and according to NPD Group, it won that top spot with a handicap.
NPD finally adds digital tracking to its game sales reports
For years, the NPD Group has tracked and reported video game sales figures. Every month, the company issues an email to the media detailing the top ten selling games for the month prior, total amount spent on games, hardware and accessories and year-over-year and generation-over-generation growth or decline. The glaring hole in those reports is that they didn't account for digital game sales from places like Steam, PlayStation Network or Xbox Live. But that's changing and with this month's data, we'll finally have steps toward a true, comprehensive picture of how much a particular title has sold, both from retailers and digital distribution.
People are still buying new consoles weeks ahead of E3
Every month, the NPD Group lays out the top-selling hardware and software in the gaming industry, tracking physical sales of everything from Xbox Ones and PlayStation 4s to Grand Theft Auto and Minecraft. There are slow months and busy months, dips in the console market and peaks in the software cycle, but in May 2016, something strange happened. Sales of current-generation consoles (meaning the PS4 and Xbox One, mostly), were "stable" according to the NPD's Liam Callahan. This wouldn't be notable in many other months, but it just so happens that E3 2016 takes place in the middle of June, and rumors are flying about new consoles from both Sony and Microsoft.
'Grand Theft Auto 5' outsold almost every game in January
Rockstar Games is reaping the rewards of keeping GTA Online fresh with things like heist missions and holiday-themed events for these past few years. Grand Theft Auto 5 was the number two selling game last month amid slowing console hardware sales, a bizarre fact considering it debuted almost two-and-a-half years ago. September 2013, to be exact. Of course, that evergreen gateway to GTA Online's multiplayer has also benefitted from a staggered release starting on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, later coming to PC and then PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Regardless, how crazy this is wasn't lost on the NPD Group's David Riley:
These were some of 2015's best selling games
What games sold the most copies in 2015? Exactly the titles you'd expect: the latest entries in long-running franchises like Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Madden NFL 16 and Fallout 4. It's not surprising -- sequels have the springboard advantage of an existing fanbase -- but disappointing: not a single new IP shows up on the NPD's top 10 best selling games list for last year.
