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Uncharted 4 Leads Strong Month Of Software Sales In May NPD
Today brings news from the NPD group about how the video game industry fared over the course of May, 2016. And the analysis is surprisingly strong, with a number of observations available that show the overall health of the industry.
“Overall trends across new physical software, hardware, and accessories in May 2016 rose by 4 percent, or $19.3MM, due to 18 percent growth of new physical software, which offset the 10 percent decline of hardware, and the 2 percent decline in accessories, ” notes The NPD Group’s Liam Callahan.
The clear winner this month is Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. Nathan Drake’s final big adventure ruled the charts during the month; that’s especially striking given that the game only released on a single platform. The demon-killing fun of Doom was nipping at Naughty Dog’s heels. Overwatch rounds out the top three, but it’s worth noting that Blizzard’s wildly popular new shooter didn’t launch until late in the monthly cycle, so there’s good reason to believe we might see it show up again in the June numbers. Callahan notes that: “When comparing Overwatch sales for days in the market, this title doubled the sales of Doom.”
The NPD also noted that the video gaming hobby has a lot to cheer about right now as far as new console sales; the PS4 and Xbox One have 43 percent higher cumulative sales right now when compared against this same point in the previous generation of hardware sales.
Here's the rundown of the top ten for the month. Platforms are listed in order by number of sales.
May 2016
1. Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PS4)
2. Doom 2016 (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
3. Overwatch (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
4. Battleborn (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
5. Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)
6. Minecraft (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
7. NBA 2K16 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3)
8. Call of Duty: Black Ops III (Xbox One, PS4, PS3, 360, PC)
9. MLB 16: The Show (PS4, PS3)
10. Dark Souls III (PS4, Xbox One)
Our Take
While some big games offered up equally big sales in the month of May, I found the news about the current state of hardware sales to be the most heartening. While hardware sales are beginning to dip in this generation, the install base for the two big consoles is huge, and that can’t help but be a good thing for anyone excited about games.
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