NPD: US games business had its best January since 2011
Monster Hunter: World was the best-selling game in a month where dollar spend reached $1.1 billion
Capcom's Monster Hunter: World was best-selling title in the US in January, according to NPD, a month where total spending climbed 59 per cent year-on-year to reach $1.1 billion.
That is the highest dollar spend in January since 2011, with Software, Hardware and Accessories all showing significant gains over the same month in 2017.
Software spend reached $517 million, a 51 per cent increase year-on-year, and the highest January amount since the $549 million made in 2011. The Switch, which wasn't available at this time last year, certainly played a significant role, but NPD said that PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC software sales all increased 40 per cent or more over last year.
The top-selling game was Monster Hunter: World, which was the leader on both PS4 and Xbox One. Capcom shipped five million units of the game worldwide in its launch weekend, and NPD's data indicates that its launch month sales in the US were an all-time high for the franchise.
The second best-selling game in January was Bandai Namco's Dragon Ball: Fighterz. The software top ten is below:
- Monster Hunter: World
- Dragon Ball: Fighterz
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Playerunknown's Battlegrounds
- Grand Theft Auto V
- NBA 2K18
- Super Mario Odyssey
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Mario Kart 8
- Madden NFL 18
Hardware spending grew by 119 per cent year-on-year to reach $278 million, which NPD attributed to Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Indeed, the dollar spending gap between the first and third best-selling platform was only 3 per cent. Together, all hardware platforms sold one million units combined, the largest amount since January 2011.
Finally, Accessories sales were up 37 per cent to $301 million, which is the highest ever total recorded in January, and around $30 million more than January 2013 - the previous record-holder. Gamecards, Gamepads and Headsets/Headphones all reached record sales levels in January 2018, and Turtle Beach products represented five of the top seven best-selling products in the category.