The former NPD Group (now named “Circana”) has released its full North American sales data for April, and it was a bit of a down month for the industry. Players spent $4.1 billion on games, additional content, and hardware in April, down 3 percent year-on-year. While software spending was up slightly, hardware numbers were down a whopping 43 percent year-on-year. As has been the case for a several month straight, PS5 was #1 in terms of unit and dollar sales, Switch was #2 in terms of unit sales, and Xbox Series X/S was #2 in terms of dollar sales.
Sony had a lot to be happy about on the software front, as Stellar Blade debuted at #1 and Helldivers 2 held steady at #2 in its third month on the market. A number of previously-Xbox-exclusive games that launched on PlayStation in April also hopped up the charts – Sea of Thieves went from #55 in March to #4 in April and Grounded went from #167 to #12. Meanwhile, the effect of the Fallout TV series was also felt, boosting Fallout 4 to #5 and Fallout 76 up to #8.
Here are April’s top 20 premium games according to Circana:
1 - Stellar Blade
2 - Helldivers 2
3 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
4 - Sea of Thieves
5 - Fallout 4
6 - MLB The Show 24
7 - Dragon's Dogma 2
8 - Fallout 76
9 - Hogwarts Legacy
10 - EA Sports FC 24
11 - Rise of the Ronin
12 - Grounded
13 - Minecraft
14 - Madden NFL 24
15 - Princess Peach: Showtime!
16 - Rainbow Six Siege
17 - Tekken 8
18 - Mario Kart 8
19 - Elden Ring
20 - Spider-Man 2
And here are the top games of 2024 to date:
1 - Helldivers 2
2 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
3 - Dragon's Dogma 2
4 - MLB The Show 24
5 - Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
6 - Tekken 8
7 - Madden NFL 24
8 - Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
9 - Hogwarts Legacy
10 - Persona 3 Reload
What are your thoughts on the April NPD/Circana charts? Any big surprises or things you’re happy to see?
About the author: Professional writer of trivial things. Nathan has been covering games, entertainment, and online culture for over a decade with bylines at IGN, GameSpy, Cracked, Uproxx, ComicBook, and more. Joined Wccftech gaming team in 2017, and has written hundreds of game reviews and thousands of news stories since.
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