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NPD January 2019: Switch best-selling hardware, Kingdom Hearts 3 tops software

Stephany Nunneley-Jackson avatar
News by Stephany Nunneley-Jackson Former News Editor
Published on

The NPD has released its data for the month of January 2019, and the big winners for the month were Kingdom Hearts 3 and Nintendo Switch.

Results for the US market for the month of January 2019 have been released by NPD. The analysis provides hardware, online and retail sales results for new physical games, and a subset of full-game digital downloads.

Hardware

Hardware sales for January 2019 declined 28%  year-over-year ($278M) to $199 million; however, dollar sales were the second highest total achieved since January 2014 when sales reached $239 million.

Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console for the month, in both dollar and unit sales, and the only console to show year-on-year growth.

According to unconfirmed figures which surfaced yesterday, Switch moved 284K units, compared to PlayStation 4's 195K and Xbox One's 101K.

Software

Total video games sales saw a decline of 19% to $893 million compared to $1,101M in January 2018.  Double-digit percentage software sales growth on the Nintendo Switch platform were offset by declines across all other platforms.

Kingdom Hearts 3 topped the monthly and PS4 charts, followed by Resident Evil 2 Remake. On the Xbox One chart, the titles switched places.

According to NPD, Kingdom Hearts 3 sales were two and a half times that of the previous franchise best, 2006's Kingdom Hearts 2. This is the second month in history a Kingdom Hearts game has topped the best-sellers chart.

Resident Evil 2 Remake dollar sales were 2.8 times higher than the original title's launch in January 1998.

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe entered the January charts as the third best-selling game of the month. Launch month dollar sales of New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe were more than 30% higher than New Super Mario Bros. U, which arrived on Wii U in November 2012.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown set a new franchise record with an 80% increase in sales compared to October 2007's Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation.

PC, console and portable; physical and full-game digital formats from Steam, PlayStation and Xbox platforms declined 18% to $427M compared to $520M year-over-year.

Accessories and Game Cards

Total spending on accessories and game cards fell 12% to $267 million in January 2019, compared to $303 million in January 2018. NPD saw slight gains in Gamepad spending.

The Nintendo Switch Pro Controller was January's best-selling accessory with dollar sales increasing 40% year-over-year.

NPD All Platforms Software charts – January 2019

NPD software charts below cover physical and full game digital sales, unless noted.

January 2019 Top 20 Games

  1. Kingdom Hearts 3
  2. Resident Evil 2 Remake
  3. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
  4. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
  5. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
  6. Red Dead Redemption 2
  7. Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
  8. NBA 2K19
  9. Mario Kart 8
  10. Grand Theft Auto 5
  11. Madden NFL 19
  12. Tales of Vesperia
  13. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  14. Battlefield 5
  15. Super Mario Party
  16. Minecraft
  17. Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
  18. Marvel's Spider-Man
  19. FIFA 19
  20. Super Mario Odyssey

January 2019 Top 10 Xbox One Games

  1. Resident Evil 2 Remake
  2. Kingdom Hearts 3
  3. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
  4. Red Dead Redemption 2
  5. Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
  6. Sea Of Thieves
  7. NBA 2K19
  8. Battlefield 5
  9. Madden NFL 19
  10. Grand Theft Auto 5

January 2019 Top 10 PlayStation 4

  1. Kingdom Hearts 3
  2. Resident Evil 2 Remake
  3. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
  4. Red Dead Redemption 2
  5. Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
  6. NBA 2K19
  7. Marvel's Spider-Man
  8. Grand Theft Auto 5
  9. Madden NFL 19
  10. Battlefield 5

January 2019 Top 10 Nintendo Switch (physical only)

  1. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
  2. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
  3. Mario Kart 8
  4. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
  5. Super Mario Party
  6. Super Mario Odyssey
  7. Pokemon: Lets Go Pikachu
  8. Pokemon: Lets Go Eevee
  9. Splatoon 2
  10. Tales of Vesperia

January 2019 Top 10 Nintendo 3DS (physical only)

  1. Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story + Bowser Jr's Journey
  2. Pokemon: Ultra Sun
  3. Mario Kart 7
  4. Luigi's Mansion
  5. Super Smash Bros.
  6. Pokemon: Ultra Moon
  7. Super Mario 3D Land
  8. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
  9. New Super Mario Bros. 2
  10. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Overall

January 2019 tracked spending across hardware, software, accessories and game cards declined 19% year-over-year to $893 million.  All segments saw double-digit declines when compared to January 2018.

Despite the year-over-year declines, NPD said January 2019 spending was "the second highest market total" achieved during a January month since 2013 when $917 million was reached.

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