September 2020 NPD: Avengers and Mario lead strong transition to fall

The Americans showed up to celebrate Super Mario’s 35th anniversary by giving Nintendo a lot of money for Super Mario 3D All-Stars and Nintendo Switch. Other major releases, like Marvel’s Avengers, also helped drive growth year-over-year.

Here are the full September 2020 game sales results from industry tracking company The NPD Group:

“Consumer spending on video game hardware, content and accessories reached $ 4.3 billion in September 2020, an increase of 10% compared to the previous year,” said NPD analyst Mat Piscatella. “Mobile devices, hardware and accessories are among the fastest growing segments.”

While that’s a big leap for the transition month between summer and the busy fall season, it’s actually behind the pace of growth for 2020 so far.

“Year-to-date spending totaled $ 33.7 billion, 21% more than in the same period in 2019,” Piscatella said.

This shows that people are rushing to release great new games like Super Mario 3D All-Stars, and it should bode well for the launch of Xbox Series X on November 10 and PlayStation 5 on November 12.

September 2020 NPD: Nintendo Switch leads in hardware

The release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars helped push more people to purchase Nintendo’s Switch hardware. It sold well enough to even mitigate the slowdown in sales for the outgoing Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles.

“Spending on video game hardware in September 2020 reached $ 277 million, an increase of 15% compared to a year ago,” said Piscatella. “The growth in sales of the Nintendo Switch offset the declines in other console platforms. Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console during September in both dollars and units. “

Hardware sales continue to grow tremendously throughout the year, even before the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X and S.

“Annual hardware spending is up 22% compared to a year ago, to $ 2.3 billion,” said Piscatella.

Let’s take a closer look at software sales.

September 2020 NPD: Best Selling Software

NPD tracks physical sales at retailers, but it also gets digital data directly from publishers. But not all companies participate. For example, Nintendo does not share its own digital sales and Activision Blizzard does not provide its Battle.net sales, and Take-Two does not always share its digital sales. This table also does not include microtransactions, subscriptions, or anything beyond full game sales. With those caveats in mind, it’s best to think of this as a very useful snapshot of a much more dynamic industry.

Marvel Avengers

Square Enix’s Marvel’s Avengers had one of the best releases of a superhero game. This should give the game a great chance of success in transitioning to a continuous live service.

“Marvel’s Avengers was the best-selling title of September,” Piscatella said. “Marvel’s Avengers launch month dollar sales were the second highest for any superhero game in US history, behind only Marvel’s Spider-Man. Marvel’s Avengers debuted as the seventh best-selling game of 2020 to date. “

Super Mario 3D All-Stars

Mario was huge for Nintendo and these results do not include any digital sales.

“Super Mario 3D All-Stars was the second best-selling game of September and ranked as the 10th best-selling game of 2020 to date,” said Piscatella. “Super Mario 3D All-Stars generated the second highest launch month in physical dollar sales of any 2020 release, behind only Animal Crossing: New Horizons.”

Nintendo likely helped boost these early sales by promising (threatening) to remove the game from store shelves and its online store after March.

“Super Mario 3D All-Stars’ launch month physical dollar sales rank as the sixth-largest for a Nintendo-published title in US history,” said Piscatella. “Super Mario 3D All-Stars is behind only Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Pokémon Stadium in dollar sales for the month of physical release “.

Tony Hawk’s 1 + 2 pro skater

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, meanwhile, was another remake hit for Activision.

“Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 was the fourth best-selling game in September,” said Piscatella. “The launch achieved the highest dollar sales in the month of launch of any title in the history of the Tony Hawk franchise, beating Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, which originally launched in October 2004.”

Crusader Kings III

Crusader Kings III had a gigantic launch for Paradox Interactive publisher. It shows that the series has gone from niche status to mainstream gaming.

“Crusader Kings III was the seventh best-selling game of September,” Piscatella said. “With only one month of sales, Crusader Kings III ranks as the best-selling release in franchise history. The title also saw the highest dollar sales in the month of release of any title published by Paradox Interactive. “

Best-selling games so far in 2020

Best-selling games of the last 12 months

Xbox One

Playstation 4

Nintendo switch