With April all wrapped up, the NPD Group is releasing its data on all things video games. For the unfamiliar, it’s a market research company that covers far more than just the games industry, but also has the data to actually make proper statements about who is selling what and where in the US. This month the headline is that Elden Ring is now the top-selling game since April 2021, despite only coming out in February.
This means it’s beaten out Call of Duty: Vanguard, which you’d normally expect to be the biggest seller of any given year, NFL 22, Pokemon, and everything else. Naturally that also makes it the biggest seller of this year so far, though LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga has come in strong at number two, being the best selling game of April and the best start for any LEGO game. This is enough to give it the number 6 slot for the past 12 months.
LEGO Star Wars was the best selling game on each individual platform. The best exclusives were Kirby and the Forgotten Land on Switch, Horizon: Forbidden West on PlayStation, and Forza Horizon 6 on Xbox. Overall, spending was 8% lower than the same month last year at a pathetic $18.3 billion. Pocket change, frankly.
All this data and more is available on Twitter via Mat Piscatella, Executive Director & Video Game Industry Advisor at the group. He knows his stuff and is an exceptionally good follow, if you’re into that kind of thing.
And no, NPD doesn’t stand for anything any more. I checked on Wikipedia and everything.
Written by Ben Barrett on behalf of GLHF.