It is a beautiful Monday, and what Monday isn’t complete without sales data? Well, hopefully, your morning isn’t filled with too many charts and graphs, but there are some new interesting data points in regards to the video game industry today. Today, NPD Group’s very own Mat Piscatella released a detailed look at March’s video game sales data for the United States. Let’s take a look at the March NPD results, and some key takeaways from this data.
Xbox Hits Big In Hardware
March was a big month for Xbox in terms of hardware numbers. After the shortcomings of the Xbox One, it appears Xbox is gaining momentum with the Series consoles. For the month of March Xbox Series consoles were the leader in dollar sales, as well as for the entire first quarter of 2022. While the Nintendo Switch still leads the way in terms of overall units sold. Xbox Series consoles have sold more in terms of dollar value in comparison.
This marks the most successful March in Xbox’s history in terms of both units sold and dollar value. The previous bests were set in 2011 with the Xbox 360 in terms of overall units sold. While in terms of dollar value 2014 during the Xbox One generation was the previous landmark. It is safe to say, Xbox will continue to find success if they continue to be able to create and push more Xbox Series consoles into the market in the coming months.
Elden Ring Continues To Top Software
While Elden Ring definitively has dominated the social media conversation, it is also an absolute sales juggernaut. As it was the best selling game for the month of March, after taking the number one spot for February as well. After selling over 12 million copies already, it is safe to say Elden Ring has elevated its developer From Software to a household name. Even with the massive success of Elden Ring plenty of games are continuing to find success. For the month of March, Piscatella noted that new releases accounted for half of the top 16 best-selling titles.
Gran Turismo 7 was a massive success for PlayStation, as it came sliding into the number 2 spot for March. While Nintendo’s very own Kirby snagged the number 3 spot with Kirby and the Forgotten Land. Possibly most interestingly MLB The Show 22, managed to steal the number 4 spot with only its deluxe and collectors edition of the game. As the regular price, SKU didn’t officially launch until April 5th. Expect to see the Show chart big during April’s numbers. The top 5 was then rounded out by Horizon Forbidden West by Guerrilla which continues to be a sales force similar to Horizon: Zero Dawn. You can find the full list of the top 20 games for the month of March below.
March NPD Top 20 Selling Games In The US
- Elden Ring
- Gran Turismo 7
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land
- MLB The Show 22
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Pokémon Legends Arceus
- WWE 2K22
- Mario Kart 8
- Call of Duty: Vanguard
- Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
- Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands
- Ghostwire: Tokyo
- FIFA 22
- Minecraft
- Madden NFL 22
- Triangle Strategy*
- Mario Party Superstars
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
March NPD Takeaways
The video game industry despite all of the uncertainties of the world today appears to be healthy and growing. While shortages are still creating havoc in the hardware space. Hopefully, we will begin to see some stabilization in the coming months. With very few AAA releases with locked-in 2022 release dates, it will be interesting to see how software trends over the coming months.
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