The NPD Group has released its video game hardware and software sales data for the United States for the month of September, and the results on both fronts are rather unsurprising. As shared in a lengthy Twitter thread by NPD analyst Mat Piscatella, on the hardware front, dollar sales are up 49% when compared to September 2020, while year-to-date hardware spending is up 49% as well, currently standing at $3.4 billion.
The PS5 dominated proceedings for hardware, being the best-selling console of the month in terms of both, revenue and units sold. This ends a 33-month streak that saw the Nintendo Switch leading the charts in terms of units sold, starting in December 2018, right up until August 2021. The PS5 is still the best-selling console of the year in dollar sales, while the Switch still leads in unit sales.
On the software side of things, it was a pretty eventful months, with a number of new releases seeing impressive debuts. Madden NFL 22 is still on No. 1, where it was last month. It is the fourth best-selling game of the twelve-month period ending September 2021, and the second highest-selling game of 2021. Beyond that, however, there’s plenty of new releases to speak about.
Tales of Arise, for instance, debuts at No. 4, and in the process, sets a new record for launch month dollar sales for the series. Bandai Namco has already confirmed that the RPG has gotten off to a solid start where sales are concerned, so this doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Meanwhile, Life is Strange: True Colors at No. 10 does the same for its own series.
In the charts, we also have FIFA 22 (No. 2), NBA 2K22 (No. 3), Diablo 2: Resurrected (No. 5), Deathloop (No. 6), and Sonic Colors: Ultimate (No. 13). WarioWare: Get it Together! also comes in at No. 15, and sees the best launch for a WarioWare game since 2007’s Wii title, WarioWare: Smooth Moves.
https://twitter.com/MatPiscatella/status/1450083531586084866
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https://twitter.com/MatPiscatella/status/1450083827938852864
