Kingdom Hearts III Bests Resident Evil 2, Switch Top Console in January Says NPD

The NPD Group have released their full North American sales data for January, and, despite some big releases, it was a somewhat slow month for the industry. Consumers spent $893 million on games and hardware, down 19 percent from $1.1 billion the previous January. The biggest reason for the drop in spending was console sales, which were only $199 million, down a hefty 28 percent from last year.

On the hardware front, the Nintendo Switch picked up another win after crushing the competition in December. The Switch saw a year-on-year increase in sales, and the Switch Pro Controller was the month’s best-selling accessory (likely due to Smash Bros.) Meanwhile, both PS4 and Xbox One saw fairly sharp year-on-year declines in sales.

Moving onto software, both Kingdom Hearts III and Resident Evil 2 did very well for themselves. KHIII sold 2.5x more copies in its launch month than any previous game in the series. Meanwhile, Resident Evil 2 made 2.8x more money in its launch month than the original PS1 version of the game. Other new additions to the chart this month include New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe at #3, Ace Combat 7 at #7 and Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition at #12.

Here’s NPD’s full January software top 20:

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

Here are the best-selling games of the past 12 months:

1. Red Dead Redemption II
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
3. NBA 2K19
4. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
5. Madden NFL 19
6. Marvel’s Spider-Man
7. Far Cry 5
8. God of War 2018
9. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
10. Mario Kart 8

There you are – great month for quality games, but a bit slow in terms of business. What games did you pick up in January?

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