US video game spending in July reached $588 million, NPD reported, growing 19 percent over the same month last year. This growth was fueled by a number of factors including Splatoon 2, Crash Bandicoot: N Sane Trilogy and additional availability of the Nintendo Switch console.
Sales of console and PC game software combined to reach $277 million in July 2017, up 17 percent versus a year ago. Driven by the Nintendo Switch, hardware rose 29 percent to $182 million. Meanwhile, video game accessories grew nine percent over last year to $129 million.
Tom Clancy is feeling the love from gamers as the bestselling game franchise in the US. In fact, Tom Clancy Ghost Recon: Wildlands the bestselling game year-to-date, and Ubisoft is the top-selling publisher.
Nintendo Paints The Town
Splatoon 2 was the bestselling title of July, marking a strong period for Nintendo, which was the bestselling software publisher for the month. The company published three of the month’s top bestselling games, including The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8 and ARMS at numbers five, seven and 17, respectively.
Coming in at number two, Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy became more popular during its second month on the market, as the game debuted in June at number four.
Gamers Answer The Call Of Duty
Over the 12-month period ending July 2017, Call of Duty is the market’s bestselling video game franchise and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare the bestselling game. In fact, gamers are “answering the call” big time—three games from the Call of Duty franchise reached the top 20 in July, with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered joining June carryovers, joining Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare at numbers 12, 13 and 15 on the charts, respectively.
RPGs Play A Role
Year-to-date dollar sales of games within the RPG genre have grown more than 50 percent, compared to the same period a year ago, NPD observed.
Titles such as Horizon: Zero Dawn, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Nier: Automata, Nioh and Persona 5 are driving the RPG market resurgence, as NPD video game industry analyst, Mat Piscatella noted in the report.
The NPD’s top 10 bestselling games across all platforms for July 2017 are:
- Splatoon 2*
- Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
- Injustice 2
- Mario Kart 8*
- Overwatch*
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
- NBA 2K17
Asterisks indicate that digital sales were not accounted for (or purchases made on Battle.net, in the case of Overwatch).
