NPD April 2020: Final Fantasy 7: Remake tops software, hardware sales up 163%
NPD April 2020 sales figures for the US finds hardware making a huge year-over-year jump, and Final Fantasy 7: Remake topping the software chart.
The NPD has released its analysis for the month of April 2020, noting nice a year-over-year increase in both hardware and software.
For the month of April 2020, NPD reported software was up 55% year-over-year (yoy) to $662 million. The report states the figure represents a new high for the month of April, with the previous record hit in April 2008 when sales reached $642 million.
Final Fantasy 7: Remake was the best-selling game of the month, and third best-selling game year-to-date. It is also currently the best-selling game of the year on PS4 and it set a franchise sales record in both unit and dollar sales. Both records were previously held by Final Fantasy 15, which released in 2016.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was once again the second best-selling game of the month, and remains the best-selling game both year-to-date as well as for the 12-month period ending April 2020. It is the fourth fastest-selling release in US.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons, which was the number one seller in March, came in third place on the software chart.
Year-to-date sales of tracked video game software exceed $2 billion, 6% higher compared to the same period in 2019.
NPD April 2020 – Top 10 best-selling titles
Titles noted with an asterisk do not include digital sales.
- Final Fantasy 7: Remake
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
- NBA 2K20
- Grand Theft Auto 5
- Resident Evil 3
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered
- MLB The Show 20
- Madden NFL 20
- Red Dead Redemption 2
Best-selling games by platform can be found in the images below.
Hardware spending for the month saw a yoy increase of 163% percent to $420 million when compared to a year ago. This is the highest total for an April month since the $427 million reported in April 2008.
Year-to-date spending came in at $1.2 billion, which is a 30% yoy increase.
Switch was once again the best-selling consoles in both unit and dollar sales. Year-to-date dollar sales of Switch are the highest of any hardware platform in US history. The previous high was set by Wii in the year-to-date period ending April 2009.
Sales of all three consoles were up by 160% compared to April 2019.
In accessories and Game Cards, total spending hit $384 million, up 49% yoy. Year-to-date spending increased by 8% to $1.3 billion.
Game controller spending doubled compared to the same period in 2019. The DualShock 4 was the best-selling controller for the month, and the Switch Pro Controller is the best-selling gamepad year-to-date.
Headset and headphone spending reached a new record, doubling the previous high set in April 2018.
The Xbox One Ear Force Recon 70 Gaming Headset Black from Turtle Beach was April's best-selling headset/headphone. The Xbox One Ear Force Stealth 600 Wireless Headset is the best-selling headset/headphone year-to-date.
Overall, April 2020 spending across the board was up 73% year-over-year to $1.5 billion. This is the highest reported spend for an April month since the $1.2 billion achieved in April 2008. Year to date, spending increased 12% to $4.5 billion yoy.