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Video games continue to grow in terms of sales as the pandemic drags on, according to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group. The March NPD game report is the first time that a year-over-year comparison will take early stay-at-home orders into affect.
“March 2021 consumer spending across video game hardware, content, and accessories reached a March record $5.6 billion,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said.”[That is] 18% higher when compared to a year ago.”
| Total Video Game Sales | $4,762 | $5,608 | 18% | |
| Video Game Hardware | $463 | $680 | 47% | |
| Video Game Content (Physical & Digital Full Game, DLC/MTX and Subscription consumer spending across Console, Cloud, Mobile*, Portable, PC and VR) platforms) | $4,062 | $4,628 | 14% | |
| Video Game Accessories | $238 | $300 | 26% | |
| * Mobile spending provided by Sensor Tower |
And through the first three months of 2021, the industry is tracking well ahead of 2020.
“First quarter consumer spending totaled $14.9 billion, 30% higher than 2020’s first quarter,” said Piscatella.
That makes sense considering the pandemic, which boosted spending on video games, didn’t get started in earnest until late March. This year also has new hardware from Sony and Microsoft.
| Year-to-Date 2021 Dollar Sales, Millions | YTD 2020 | YTD 2021 | Change | |
| Total Video Game Sales | $11,480 | $14,920 | 30% | |
| Video Game Hardware | $778 | $1,405 | 81% | |
| Video Game Content (Physical & Digital Full Game, DLC/MTX and Subscription consumer spending across Console, Cloud, Mobile*, Portable, PC and VR) platforms) | $10,199 | $12,798 | 25% | |
| Video Game Accessories | $504 | $717 | 42% | |
| * Mobile spending provided by Sensor Tower |
Let’s get to the software charts.
March 2021 NPD: The top 20 best-selling games of the month in the U.S.
NPD tracks physical sales at retailers, but it also gets digital data directly from publishers. But not every company participates. For example, Nintendo doesn’t share its first-party sales, and Activision Blizzard does not provide its Battle.net sales.
These charts are sorted by dollar sales — not number of units sold. And this is for full-game sales and does not include in-game spending.
| Rank | Last Month Rank | March 2021 Top 20 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital from the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation, STEAM and Xbox platforms for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | 2 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 2 | NEW | Monster Hunter: Rise | Capcom USA |
| 3 | NEW | Outriders | Square Enix Inc (Corp) |
| 4 | 1 | Super Mario 3D World* | Nintendo |
| 5 | 4 | Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales | Sony (Corp) |
| 6 | 9 | Mario Kart 8* | Nintendo |
| 7 | 7 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Ubisoft |
| 8 | 10 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons* | Nintendo |
| 9 | 16 | Super Mario 3D All-Stars* | Nintendo |
| 10 | 8 | Minecraft | Multiple Video Game Manufacturers |
| 11 | 11 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 12 | 14 | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* | Nintendo |
| 13 | 19 | Pokemon: Sword/Shield* | Nintendo |
| 14 | 15 | Mortal Kombat 11 | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| 15 | 65 | Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 16 | 20 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* | Nintendo |
| 17 | 5 | Madden NFL 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 18 | 13 | NBA 2K21* | Take-Two Interactive |
| 19 | 22 | Super Mario Party* | Nintendo |
| 20 | 12 | FIFA 21 | Electronic Arts |
| * Digital sales not included |
When it comes to software, Switch is still one of the biggest stories. Nintendo published seven of the top 20 highest-selling games in March. But Monster Hunter: Rise is Switch exclusive, and Crash Bandicoot 4 is back in the top 20 thanks to its Switch version.
While PlayStation 5 and Xbox are building up an audience, Nintendo is cashing in on a very successful generation. Let’s see what Piscatella has to say about the games.
Call of Duty
Call of Duty maintained its evergreen status in March.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War returned to the top of the monthly best-sellers chart in March,” said Piscatella. “Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War was also the best-selling title of both the first quarter as well as the 12-month period ending March.”
Monster Hunter: Rise
In terms of new games, Monster Hunter: Rise was the big one for the month. It outsold everything except for Call of Duty.
“Monster Hunter: Rise debuted as March’s second best-seller, while also ranking first on Switch,” said Piscatella. “With just one month on the market, lifetime dollar sales of Monster Hunter: Rise rank second among all Monster Hunter franchise releases, trailing only Monster Hunter: World.”
Outriders
Despite also launching at no extra cost for Xbox Game Pass subscribers on Xbox, the online cooperative shooter Outriders also had a strong debut.
“Outriders launched as the third best-selling game of March,” said Piscatella. “Outriders ranked as the No. 3 best-selling game on both Xbox and PlayStation platforms.”
Mario Kart 8
Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, meanwhile, is the Call of Duty of mascot racers.
“Mario Kart 8 placed sixth on the March 2021 best-sellers chart,” said Piscatella. “Mario Kart 8 is the best-selling racing-genre video game in U.S. history.”
Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time
Activision didn’t only have Call of Duty in the top 20. Crash found his way back into the top 20 thanks to the Switch.
“The March launch of the Switch version of Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time helped the title rise to No. 15 on the March best-sellers chart after placing 65th in February,” said Piscatella.
Top 20 best-selling games of 2021 so far
| Rank | Year-to-Date Ending March 2021 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital from the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation, STEAM and Xbox platforms for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher | |
| 1 | 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 2 | 2 | Super Mario 3D World* | Nintendo |
| 3 | 3 | Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales | Sony (Corp) |
| 4 | NEW | Monster Hunter: Rise | Capcom USA |
| 5 | 4 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Ubisoft |
| 6 | 7 | Mario Kart 8* | Nintendo |
| 7 | 6 | Minecraft | Multiple Video Game Manufacturers |
| 8 | 5 | Madden NFL 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 9 | 8 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons* | Nintendo |
| 10 | NEW | Outriders | Square Enix Inc (Corp) |
| * Digital sales not included |
Top 10 best-selling games of the last 12 months
| Rank | Last Month Rank | 12 Months Ending March 2021 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital from the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation, STEAM and Xbox platforms for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 2 | 4 | Madden NFL 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 3 | 2 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 4 | 5 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Ubisoft |
| 5 | 6 | Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales | Sony (Corp) |
| 6 | 3 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons* | Nintendo |
| 7 | 7 | The Last of Us: Part II | Sony (Corp) |
| 8 | 8 | Ghost of Tsushima | Sony (Corp) |
| 9 | 9 | Super Mario 3D All-Stars* | Nintendo |
| 10 | 10 | Mario Kart 8* | Nintendo |
| * Digital sales not included |
March 2021 NPD: Top 10 best-selling Nintendo games in the U.S.
| Rank | Last Month Rank | March 2021 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | NEW | Monster Hunter: Rise | Capcom USA |
| 2 | 1 | Super Mario 3D World* | Nintendo |
| 3 | 2 | Mario Kart 8* | Nintendo |
| 4 | 3 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons* | Nintendo |
| 5 | 5 | Super Mario 3D All-Stars* | Nintendo |
| 6 | 4 | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* | Nintendo |
| 7 | 7 | Pokemon: Sword/Shield* | Nintendo |
| 8 | 8 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* | Nintendo |
| 9 | 10 | Super Mario Party* | Nintendo |
| 10 | 16 | Luigi’s Mansion 3* | Nintendo |
| * Digital sales not included |
March 2021 NPD: Top 10 best-selling PlayStation-platform games in the U.S.
| Rank | Last Month Rank | March 2021 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 2 | 2 | Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales | Sony (Corp) |
| 3 | NEW | Outriders | Square Enix Inc (Corp) |
| 4 | 5 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Ubisoft |
| 5 | 4 | Madden NFL 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 6 | 9 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 7 | 6 | Minecraft | Microsoft (Corp) |
| 8 | 11 | Ghost of Tsushima | Sony (Corp) |
| 9 | 7 | NBA 2K21* | Take-Two Interactive |
| 10 | 12 | Mortal Kombat 11 | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| * Digital sales not included |
March 2021 NPD: Top 10 best-selling Xbox-platform games in the U.S.
| Rank | Last Month Rank | March 2021 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 2 | 3 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Ubisoft |
| 3 | NEW | Outriders | Square Enix Inc (Corp) |
| 4 | 4 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 5 | 9 | Mortal Kombat 11 | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| 6 | 2 | Madden NFL 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 7 | 6 | Forza Horizon 4 | Microsoft (Corp) |
| 8 | NEW | It Takes Two | Electronic Arts |
| 9 | 16 | Marvel’s Avengers | Square Enix Inc (Corp) |
| 10 | 22 | Watch Dogs: Legion | Ubisoft |
| * Digital sales not included |
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