Switch helps US games market to 10% gain

Sales of the Nintendo Switch have remained strong for a second month in the US, driving up the annual comparisons in NPD’s monthly report.

The overall market is up ten per cent at $636m. Hardware was up 37 per cent at $195m, with software up six per cent at $304m and accessories up four per cent at $126m.

The numbers represent the highest April hardware sales since April 2011.

[It’s] the first time the industry has experienced two months of consecutive growth since November 2015,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said. The Nintendo Switch led hardware sales, while Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Persona 5, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, drove software sales.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the month’s top-selling title. As a property, Mario Kart is the all-time best-selling Racing franchise in the US. Persona 5 experienced the strongest debut month for any title in Persona franchise history, with packaged dollar sales five times that of the previous best-selling debut, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4.

Year to date, the top two games in dollar sales are both published by Ubisoft: Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands, the best-selling game of the year through April; and For Honor, which charted at No.2 through April.

Seven different publishers produced the top 10 April titles for the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo published three of the top 10, while Warner Bros. Interactive, Sega, Konami, Nicalis, Ubisoft and Activision Blizzard all published titles for the Nintendo Switch that appear in April’s top 10.”

Here’s the All Platforms Top 20 for April:

1. Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo)
2. Persona 5 (Atlus)
3. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo)
4. MLB 17: The Show (Sony)
5. Ghost Recon: Wildlands (Ubisoft)
6. Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar)
7. Mass Effect: Andromeda (EA)
8. NBA 2K17 (2K)
9. Overwatch (Blizzard)
10. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Activision)
11. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (Activision)
12. Horizon Zero Dawn (Sony)
13. LEGO City Undercover (Warner)
14. Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix (Square Enix)
15. LEGO Worlds (Warner)
16. Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft)
17. Battlefield 1 (EA)
18. For Honor (Ubisoft)
19. Nier: Automata (Square Enix)
20. Minecraft (Microsoft)