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Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Persona 5 top April NPD, Black Ops 2 outsells Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

Brenna Hillier avatar
News by Brenna Hillier Contributor
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The April NPD is in, and there's a lot to celebrate.

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As previously reported, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was the bestselling game in the US in April, according to the NPD's latest monthly report. The company ranks Mario Kart as the all-time best-selling racing franchise in the US.

This is excellent news for Nintendo, as it proves the new console isn't a one hit wonder - although The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, the erstwhile one hit, also sold gangbusters this month. Switch was the bestselling hardware of the month with over 280,000 sales, too.

The console's launch has been great for the wider industry, as well. With this month's 10% year-on-year increase in total industry spend, we've enjoyed two consecutive months of year-on-year growth - a performance unequalled since November 2015.

According to the NPD, Switch's hardware performance saw the highest April hardware dollar sales figure since 2011.

Nintendo's continued momentum could mean a great deal for retailers and the traditional games business; market growth helps everyone, and a third horse in the hardware race isn't a bad thing at all.

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April NPD 2017 software charts

Persona 5 came in second behind Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, and had "the strongest debut month for any title in Persona franchise history, with packaged dollar sales five times that of the previous best-selling debut, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4,” according to NPD analyst Mat Piscatella. Reaching the second slot is a remarkable feat for an exclusive, let alone a hardcore 200 hour JRPG. Nice one, Atlus and Sega.

The other item that has everyone talking this week is Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, a game from 2012, charting one cheeky slot above last year's Infinite Warfare. It's not unusual for a Call of Duty game to chart a full year or even 18 months after release, but this is a bit extreme. The phenomenon is easily explained; Black Ops 2 recently went backwards compatible, so a bunch of Xbox One owners have picked up the Xbox 360 release. It's just funny and a bit sad for Activision and Infinity Ward - that more people wanted to play a 2012 game last month than the latest effort.

The rest of the chart is mostly business as usual, stacked with old favourites - although it's nice to see the excellent Nier Automata holding on.

Here's the full top 20 combined PC and consoles sales chart by revenue for April 2017:

  1. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (no digital sales included)
  2. Persona 5 (no digital sales included)
  3. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
  4. MLB 17: The Show
  5. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
  6. Grand Theft Auto 5
  7. Mass Effect: Andromeda
  8. NBA 2K17
  9. Overwatch (no PC digital sales included)
  10. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
  11. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
  12. Horizon: Zero Dawn
  13. Lego City Undercover
  14. Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix
  15. Lego Worlds
  16. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
  17. Battlefield 1
  18. For Honor
  19. Nier: Automata
  20. Minecraft

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Hardware and general April NPD results

Total industry spend in the US for April 2017 was $636 million, up 10% from $577 million in April 2016.

By sector, hardware jumped 37% to $195 million. Switch was the bestseller, as already mentioned, but the NES Classic came in second. It's hard to find either system in shops at the moment, although at least the Switch hasn't been cancelled for no good reason.

Accessories increased 4% to $125 million, and that's down to the Switch, too: the Pro Controller was the top selling peripheral.

In software, console sales grew 6% to $304 million, but PC software fell 57% to $11 million. Unsurprising in a month where single-platform exclusives were the major driving forces.

As ever, remember that while the NPD is expanding its scope to include some sources of digital sales, it still can't account for a significant slice of total industry revenue, such as subscriptions, microtransactions, rentals, used game sales and more.

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Further software charts - April 2017 NPD

    PS4
  • Persona 5* (no digital sales included)
  • MLB 17: The Show
  • Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
  • Horizon Zero Dawn
  • Grand Theft Auto 5
  • Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix
  • Mass Effect: Andromeda
  • NBA 2K17
  • Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
  • Overwatch
    Switch (no digital sales included)
  • Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  • Lego City Undercover
  • 1-2 Switch
  • Puyo Puyo Tetris
  • Super Bomberman R
  • The Binding of Isaac Afterbirth+
  • Just Dance 2017
  • Skylanders Imgainators
    Xbox One
  • Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands
  • Mass Effect: Andromeda
  • Grand Theft Auto 5
  • Overwatch
  • Forza Horizon 3
  • NBA 2K17
  • Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
  • Lego Worlds
  • Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
  • For Honor
    Portables (3DS, Vita)
  • Mario Sports Superstars
  • Pokémon Sun
  • Pokémon Moon
  • Super Mario Maker
  • Poochy and Yoshi’s Wooly World
  • Super Smash Bros.
  • Mario Kart 7
  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
  • Super Mario 3D Land
  • New Super Mario Bros. 2
    Top selling games of 2017 through April - all formats
  • Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
  • For Honor
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  • Horizon Zero Dawn
  • Mass Effect: Andromeda
  • Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
  • Grand Theft Auto V
  • NBA 2K17
  • Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
  • MLB 17: The Show

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