April 2019 U.S. video game sales report from The NPD Group
Analysis from NPD's VG industry analyst, Mat Piscatella
April 2019 tracked spending across video game hardware, software, accessories and game cards totaled $842 million, gaining 1 percent when compared to a year ago. Growth in software and accessory & game card spending offset declines in hardware.
Year-to-date spending across tracked video game hardware, software, accessories & game cards is down 2 percent when compared to 2018, to $4.0 billion. Declines in hardware spending have offset growth in sales of accessories & game cards.
NPD Group's U.S. Games Industry Sales - April 2019
4-Week Reporting Period : 4/7/2019 through 5/4/2019
| April 2019 Dollar Sales | Apr'18 | Apr'19 | CHG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Video Game Sales | $838m | $842m | 1% |
| Video Games Hardware | $225m | $160m | -29% |
| PC & Video Games Software [1] | $370m | $427m | 15% |
| Video Games Accessories & Game Cards | $243m | $256m | 5% |
| 2019 Year-to-Date Dollar Sales | 2018 YTD (Adjusted)* | 2019 YTD | CHG |
| Total Video Game Sales | $4,074m | $4,012m | -2% |
| Video Games Hardware | $1,094m | $918m | -16% |
| PC & Video Games Software [1] | $1,824m | $1,906m | 4% |
| Video Games Accessories & Game Cards | $1,156m | $1,188m | 3% |
*2018 YTD adjusted to include same number of tracking weeks in year
Software (All notes refer to dollar sales)
Dollar sales of tracked console, portable and PC video game software reached $427 million in April 2019, gaining 15 percent when compared to a year ago.
Year-to-date dollar sales of tracked console, portable and PC video game software totaled $1.9 billion, 4 percent higher when compared to a year ago.
Mortal Kombat 11 was the best-selling game of April and instantly becomes the 2nd best-selling game of 2019 year-to-date. Mortal Kombat 11 was the best-selling game of the month on all platforms on which it released : PC, PlayStation 4, Switch and Xbox One.
Mortal Kombat 11 represents the first time a third-party published Nintendo Switch game was the platform's top seller in a month since Ubisoft's Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle topped the Nintendo Switch chart in September 2017.
Days Gone was the 2nd best-selling game of April, with debut month sales that rank as the 7th highest in history for a Sony-published title. After just one month in market, Days Gone is the best-selling game produced by Sony Bend Studio in lifetime revenues.
MLB The Show 19 ranks as the third best-selling game of April and is now the 10th best-selling game of 2019. It is also the best-selling sports title of 2019 year-to-date. MLB The Show 19 remains the best-selling game in franchise history on a time-aligned basis.
April 2019 Top 20 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales
| Title | Rank | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Mortal Kombat 11 | 1 | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| Days Gone | 2 | Sony (Corp) |
| MLB 19 : The Show | 3 | Sony (Corp) |
| Tom Clancy's The Division 2^ | 4 | Ubisoft |
| Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* | 5 | Nintendo |
| Grand Theft Auto V | 6 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| Sekiro : Shadows Die Twice^ | 7 | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| Call of Duty : Black Ops IIII^ | 8 | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| NBA 2k19 | 9 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| Yoshi's Crafted World* | 10 | Nintendo |
| Red Dead Redemption II | 11 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| Mario Kart 8* | 12 | Nintendo |
| Assassin's Creed : Odyssey | 13 | Ubisoft |
| Minecraft# | 14 | Multi |
| New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe* | 15 | Nintendo |
| Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster | 16 | Square Enix Inc (Corp) |
| The Legend of Zelda : Breath of the Wild* | 17 | Nintendo |
| Jump Force | 18 | Bandai Namco Games (Corp) |
| Battlefield V* | 19 | Electronic Arts |
| Borderlands | 20 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
Hardware
Hardware spending in April 2019 fell 29 percent when compared to a year ago, to $160 million. Nintendo Switch sales growth was offset by declines across all other hardware platforms.
Year-to-date hardware spending has declined 16 percent versus year ago, to $918 million. As with April, strong Nintendo Switch sales growth was offset by declines across all other hardware platforms.
Nintendo Switch was the best-selling hardware platform of both April as well as year-to-date across both unit and dollar sales. The Nintendo Switch 32GB with neon red and blue joy cons is the best-selling individual hardware item of 2019.
Accessories & Game Cards
Total spending on accessories & game cards grew 5 percent in April 2019 when compared to a year ago, to $256 million. Gains for both game card and gamepad spending drove overall performance.
Year-to-date spending on accessories & game cards is up 3 percent when compared to a year ago, to $1.2 billion. As with April, game card and gamepad spending have fueled market growth.
Amiibo Super Smash Bros Series 1 Character Packs were the best-selling video game accessory of April, while the PS4 DualShock 4 Black Wireless Controller remains the best-selling accessory year-to-date.