NPD charts for May – sales up and Resident Evil: Village takes top spot

NPD’s sales figures are in for the US in the month of May. And the industry continues to boom as next-gen console buzz managed to build on the huge gains from the pandemic and Switch in 2020.

Total video game sales were up three per cent on last May, an impressive figure given that was in the middle of lockdown. That breaks down to 3 per cent for content, 5 up for hardware, but 8 per cent down for accessories. Total sales year to date are now 17 per cent up on last year.

More specifically in the content segment, Resident Evil: Village was the top grossing title in the US in May, followed by Mass Effect’s Legendary Edition. And those pushed MLB: The Show 21 and Black Ops: Cold War down to third and fourth respectively. While New Pokemon Snap rounds out the Top Five, although as usual digital sales for the Nintendo title are not included.

The only other new entry bar the top two was Biomutant at 16. Black Ops: Cold War remains the top-selling title for the year to date, but Resident Evil: Village is now in 2nd place on that chart.

Looking at the platform specific numbers, it’s incredible to see that Mario Kart 8 is still the second best selling Switch title of the month, after New Pokemon Snap, and before Animal Crossing: New Horizons. While Resident Evil: Village was the top performing Xbox and PlayStation title for the month.