January 2021 NPD: Nintendo games and holiday hits lead to increasing sales

The new generation of consoles provides growth in all game categories in the United States. The hardware increased by 144% from the previous year, but the software also increased by 36%, according to the industry tracking company NPD Group.

“January 2021 consumer spending across hardware games, content and video game accessories reached a record high in January of $ 4.7 billion,” said NPD analyst Mat Piscatella. “[That’s] 42% higher compared to a year ago. ”

Here are the complete NPD results for January 2021:

While January 2021 did not have many new game releases, a crop of late 2020 games continues to sell well. This also applies to Nintendo’s evergreen releases such as Animal Crossing: New Horizons. But the launch of new consoles also encourages greater engagement, which also leads to higher spending on microtransactions.

Let’s get to the sales charts.

January 2021 NPD: The 20 best-selling games of the month in the United States

The NPD tracks physical sales at retailers, but it also receives digital data directly from publishers. But not all companies participate. For example, Nintendo does not share first-party sales, and Activision Blizzard does not share Battle.net sales.

These maps are sorted by dollar sales – not the number of units sold. And this is for sale the entire game and does not include expenses in the game.

Hitman 3

An obvious omission in the top 20 is IO Interactive’s Hitman 3, which was launched on January 20. IO published the assassination simulator on its own and did not share its digital sales with the NPD. That kept the game out of the charts – although IO revealed that the game earned back its budget in the first week.

The NPD also does not have digital sales for Cyberpunk 2077, and that game slipped down to No. 18 in its second month. But Hitman 3’s physical sales must have come under it.

Call of Duty: Black Ops – The Cold War

Call of Duty’s success is impressive compared to other releases in 2020, but Black Ops – Cold War sales are at historic levels, according to Piscatella.

“Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War was January’s best-selling game,” he said. “Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War has been the best-selling game in the United States every month since its launch in November, and it is now the 20th best-selling video game in US track history ranked by lifetime sales in dollars.”

Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

Like Black Ops – Cold War, Valhalla seems to be running high on its franchise victories. Players loved the Odyssey and Origins, and they were ready for a new one on the next generation consoles. It pays off for Ubisoft.

“Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla was the second best-selling game in January,” Piscatella said. “When we compare the sales of each title for the first three months, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla is now the second fastest-selling Assassin’s Creed series in US history, and is only after Assassin’s Creed III.”

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Oh, and Animal Crossing is still a sales animal.

“Animal Crossing: New Horizons ranked as January’s fifth best-selling title,” Piscatella said. “This is the first time it has been ranked among the top five best-selling games of the month since it became fifth in July 2020. Animal Crossing: New Horizons repeated as the best-selling title of the month on the Nintendo Switch.”

January 2021 NPD: Top 10 best-selling Nintendo platform games

January 2021 NPD: Top 10 best-selling PlayStation platform games

January 2021 NPD: Top 10 best-selling Xbox platform games

See you next month!