The NPD Group has reported the video game sales numbers for the month of June 2016, and even though some of the statistics have seen a slight drop from the previous year, they continue to be quite steady, especially with the addition of digital game sales in the report.
Liam Callahan of NPD reported, “Video game software dollar sales increased by three percent in 2015 when including digital full-game sales from participating publishers, while physical-only sales decreased two percent.” However, video game sales, including those sold digitally, only decreased by one percent, which isn’t too bad a drop.
“When including digital full-game sales, games like Grand Theft Auto V, Star Wars: Battlefront and Battlefield: Hardline increased in ranking within the top 10 games compared to a physical-only list for 2015,” noted Callahan. “Call of Duty: Black Ops III remained the top game for 2015.”
Meanwhile, Tom Clancy’s The Division, Overwatch and Grand Theft Auto V continue to be the three hottest digital titles for the year.
Callahan quickly noted that with the same period last year, video game sales were lifted with the release of the highly anticipated Batman: Arkham Knight. That game sold over five times the amount of unit and dollar sales generated by the June 2016 titles.
One of the few major releases for consoles in June came with the publisher’s release of Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which notched into a third place position for the month behind Overwatch and Grand Theft Auto V. Doom and Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, another June release, rounded out the top five.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and Overwatch continued to be strong hold-overs from the month of May, however the report restates how the success of Arkham Knight made for an overall better month.
On the hardware side, Callahan noted, “After 32 months since the launches of the PS4 and Xbox One, the combined cumulative hardware sales for these two consoles exceed the sales of their predecessors by 40 percent at the same point in their life-cycles.”
The NPD’s top 10 best selling games for June 2016 are:
- Overwatch
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens
- Doom 2016**
- Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst
- Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End**
- NBA 2K16
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III
- Destiny: The Taken King
- Minecraft**
Asterisks indicate that digital sales were not accounted for.