NPD Charts: Switch is the only platform that had software sales growth in June

Mario Tennis Aces had very strong launch sales in the US as it took the top spot in NPD Charts for June (while it debuted only at No.8 in the UK as we were all busy being disappointed by football). It’s worth noting that, though usually NPD figures combine both digital and physical sales, Mario Tennis Aces’ performance in the charts only comprised physical sales, making it even more impressive. NPD’s VG industry analyst Mat Piscatella mentioned that the Switch title “achieved the all-time highest Month One sales for a Tennis genre game in NPD tracked history.”

The rest of the Top 20 comprised three other new entries, with Ubisoft’s The Crew 2 debuting at No.4, Warner Bros’ Lego The Incredibles taking No.7 for its first month in the charts (breaking Lego Star Wars: The Force Awaken record as the biggest launch for a Lego title in terms of value) and Focus’ Vampyr debuting at No.18. The Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy re-entered the charts at No.9 following its release on Switch and Xbox One.

Overall, sales in the US for June were up 25 per cent year-on-year reaching $1.1bn (£0.84bn), with hardware being particularly healthy, increasing 52 per cent compared to June 2017. Piscatella explained: “Gains were driven by Fortnite, promotions around the E3 period, and reinvigorated distribution of the NES Classic, among other factors. For the 2018 year-to-date period, hardware spending has increased 21 percent to $1.7bn (£1.3bn). Spending gains for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Plug N Play devices such as the NES Classic and SNES Classic have driven growth.” The NES Classic was actually the best-selling hardware in the US in June in units, while the PS4 was the top seller in value. “Xbox One hardware dollar sales nearly doubled in June 2018 when compared to a year ago,” Piscatella also said.

Meanwhile, software sales reached $374m (£287.6m), down one per cent year-on-year. Talking about software, Piscatella added: “Nintendo Switch was the only platform that produced software sales growth in June, with dollar sales more than doubling those of June 2017. Year-to-date software sales on Nintendo Switch are also more than double those of a year ago.” Once again, it is worth noting that this performance doesn’t take into account digital sales, while it usually does for other platforms. As expected, Nintendo was also the best selling publisher in the US in June.