Video Games sales in U.S. (retail & digital) - March 2017
Analysis from NPD VG industry analyst, Sam Naji
Total video game spending, which includes hardware, software and accessories, had a stellar month in spending growth thanks to the release of the Nintendo Switch and new titles including Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon : Wildlands, The Legend of Zelda : Breath Of The Wild, Horizon Zero Dawn and Mass Effect : Andromeda. Spending grew by 24 percent compared to last year to over $1.3B.
The growth in total physical sales for March 2017 reversed 9 consecutive months of year-on-year declines since May 2016.
NPD Group's U.S. Games Industry Sales - March 2017
5-week month ; Reporting Period 02/26/17 through 04/01/17
| Dollar Sales | 16-mars | 17-mars | Chg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Video Game Sales | $1.09B | $1.36B | 24% |
| Video Games Hardware | $253M | $485M | 91% |
| *Video Games Software (Console+Portable ; Physical and Full Game Digital Formats from the PSN, and Xbox Live platforms) | $585M | $612M | 5% |
| *PC Games Software (PC ; Physical and Full Game Digital Formats from the Steam platform) | $39M | $29M | -25% |
| **Video Games Accessories | $213M | $231M | 9% |
Hardware
Hardware spending almost doubled compared to a year ago to $485 million. March 2017 will go down in history books as the month Nintendo broke records. The Nintendo Switch had the biggest hardware launch for a Nintendo platform and the second biggest launch for any video game platform since 1995, the time NPD began tracking this category.
In this debut month (month 1), the Nintendo Switch sold 31K more units than previous best-selling Nintendo month-1 platform, the Game Boy Advanced, which released back in June 2001.
The two Nintendo Switch SKUs, the 32GB Gray Joy-Con, followed by the 32GB Neon Red/Blue Joy-Con, were the best-selling systems for the month.
Software
Nintendo continued to break records in physical software as well as hardware. Switch's packaged software sold 1.3m units, a record high for a Nintendo platform launch and the Switch version of The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild sold over 900K packaged units in the launch month. This resulted with an attach rate of 99 percent to the Switch hardware. This is the highest attach rate for any non-bundled title for a new gaming platform since NPD began tracking in 1995.
As a property, Zelda has been around in the U.S. since 1987. NPD's tracked sales for the Zelda franchise have recorded physical sales of just under $1.4B in revenue (1995 - present). Zelda is the top-selling property of all time within the Adventure super genre, selling 54 percent more revenue than the next best-selling franchise, Resident Evil.
1-2 Switch made the top 20 best-selling games ; coming in as the thirteenth ranked game, it had an attach rate of 19 percent to the Nintendo Switch hardware.
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon : Wildlands was the best-selling title in Mar'17 and had the best launch of any Ghost Recon title ; and, after Tom Clancy's The Division, it was the second best launch of any Tom Clancy game.
Mass Effect : Andromeda, the third best-selling title in March 2017, had the second best launch in the series, behind Mass Effect 3.
Horizon Zero Dawn was the fourth best-selling title for the month. Developed by Guerrilla Games, this was the developer's best launch ever, selling twice as much as its next best title, Killzone Shadow Fall.
March 2017 Top 20 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital Formats for publishers in the digital panel ; across all platforms incl. PC), ranked on dollar sales
| All Platforms | Rank | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon : Wildlands | 1 | Ubisoft |
| The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild*** | 2 | Nintendo |
| Mass Effect : Andromeda | 3 | Electronic Arts |
| Horizon Zero Dawn*** | 4 | Sony (Corp) |
| MLB 17 : The Show*** | 5 | Sony (Corp) |
| Grand Theft Auto V | 6 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| For Honor | 7 | Ubisoft |
| NBA 2K17 | 8 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| Nier : Automata | 9 | Square Enix Inc (Corp) |
| Call of Duty : Infinite Warfare | 10 | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix | 11 | Square Enix Inc (Corp) |
| Battlefield 1 | 12 | Electronic Arts |
| 1-2 Switch*** | 13 | Nintendo |
| Resident Evil 7 : Biohazard | 14 | Capcom USA |
| Overwatch | 15 | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six : Siege | 16 | Ubisoft |
| Super Bomberman R*** | 17 | Konami Digital Ent. |
| FIFA 17 | 18 | Electronic Arts |
| Lego Worlds | 19 | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| Madden NFL 17 | 20 | Electronic Arts |
March 2017 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital Formats for publishers in the digital panel ; for the Xbox One Platform), ranked on dollar sales
| Xbox One (all models) | Rank | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon : Wildlands | 1 | Ubisoft |
| Mass Effect : Andromeda | 2 | Electronic Arts |
| For Honor | 3 | Ubisoft |
| NBA 2K17 | 4 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| Grand Theft Auto V | 5 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| Call of Duty : Infinite Warfare | 6 | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| Battlefield 1 | 7 | Electronic Arts |
| Halo Wars 2 | 8 | Microsoft (Corp) |
| Overwatch | 9 | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| Forza Horizon 3 | 10 | Microsoft (Corp) |
March 2017 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital Formats for publishers in the digital panel ; for the PlayStation 4 Platform), ranked on dollar sales
| PlayStation 4 (all models) | Rank | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon : Wildlands | 1 | Ubisoft |
| Horizon Zero Dawn*** | 2 | Sony (Corp) |
| Mass Effect : Andromeda | 3 | Electronic Arts |
| MLB 17 : The Show*** | 4 | Sony (Corp) |
| Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix | 5 | Square Enix Inc (Corp) |
| Nier : Automata | 6 | Square Enix Inc (Corp) |
| Grand Theft Auto V | 7 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| NBA 2K17 | 8 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| For Honor | 9 | Ubisoft |
| Call of Duty : Infinite Warfare | 10 | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
March 2017 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital Formats for publishers in the digital panel ; for the Nintendo Switch Platform), ranked on dollar sales
| Nintendo Switch | Rank | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild*** | 1 | Nintendo |
| 1-2 Switch*** | 2 | Nintendo |
| Super Bomberman R*** | 3 | Konami Digital Ent. |
| Just Dance 2017*** | 4 | Ubisoft |
| The Binding Of Isaac : Afterbirth +*** | 5 | Nicalis |
| Skylanders Imaginators*** | 6 | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
March 2017 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital Formats for publishers in the digital panel ; for the Wii U Platform), ranked on dollar sales
| Wii U | Rank | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild*** | 1 | Nintendo |
| The Legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess HD*** | 2 | Nintendo |
| Super Smash Bros.*** | 3 | Nintendo |
| Minecraft*** | 4 | Microsoft (Corp) |
| Paper Mario : Color Splash*** | 5 | Nintendo |
| Pokken Tournament*** | 6 | Nintendo |
| New Super Mario Bros. U + New Super Luigi U*** | 7 | Nintendo |
| Super Mario Maker*** | 8 | Nintendo |
| Yoshi's Wooly World*** | 9 | Nintendo |
| Splatoon*** | 10 | Nintendo |
Accessories
Total spend on Accessories and Gamecards** grew 9 percent compared to last year to $231 million. Accessories associated with the Nintendo Switch accounted for one quarter of total console accessory spending for the month.
Gamepad sales grew 26 percent in March when compared to March 2016. The Nintendo Switch Pro Controller was the #1 Gamepad of the month.
Although Interactive Gaming Toy sales were down 38 percent for the month compared to this time last year, the popularity of The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild Amiibo 1 Character Pack accounted for 43 percent of total Interactive Gaming Toy spending. This was enough to increase sales in amiibos by 56 percent year-on-year.