Monster Hunter Generations Was The Highest Selling Title in July NPD Charts, Pokemon Soars On Back of Pokemon GO

Monster Hunter‘s growth and success in the west continues. The series, which has been famously dominant in Japan, usually did not use to sell a whole lot in Europe and North America- but that’s been changing of late.  After Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate ended up selling over a million units in the west last year, Monster Hunter Generations appears to be off to a flying start, too.

Nintendo is reporting that for the month of July, the just released Monster Hunter Generations was the highest selling game in North America- that’s right, it topped the NPD software charts for the month, selling an estimated 165,000 copies at retail (and of course, with more copies sold digitally). For a series that used to be highly niche, this is a major victory, and it all but guarantees that Monster Hunter shall continue to stick with Nintendo systems going forward.

The true victor in July, however, was another monster franchise- Nintendo’s 3DS Pokemon games saw, like in the rest of the world, increased sales on the back of Pokemon GO‘s massive success. Nintendo reports that Pokemon X/Y and OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire all saw major growth- OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire sold 80% more year on year, while X/Y sold a staggering 200% more than they did last year.

Overall, Nintendo saw some major inroads with their software this month: games playable on Nintendo systems claimed five of the top 11 spots on the July best-sellers list. These include Monster Hunter Generations from Capcom at No. 1, Minecraft: Wii U Edition from Microsoft at No. 6, Pokémon OmegaRuby at No. 8, Pokémon AlphaSapphire at No. 10, and Kirby: Planet Robobot at No. 11.

For Nintendo, with the impending launch of Pokemon Sun/Moon later this year, all of this can only be a good thing.