Video Games sales in U.S. April 2016
In April 2016, overall trends (hardware, new physical software, and accessories) were down 15 percent or $88.5MM compared to April 2015 due to a $41.6MM decline in hardware and a $52.8MM decline in software, with the $5.9MM growth in accessories unable to offset these losses.
NPD Group's U.S. Games Industry Sales (New Physical Sales Channel*) - April 2016
4-week month; Reporting Period 04/03/16 through 04/30/16
| Dollar Sales | Apr'15 | Apr'16 | CHG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Video Game Sales (New Physical Channel) | $598.1M | $509.5M | -15% |
| Video Games Hardware | $183.7M | $142.1M | -23% |
| Video Games Software (Console+Portable - New Physical Sales only) | $256.7M | $203.9M | -21% |
| Video Games Accessories | $157.6M | $163.5M | 4% |
| Total Software Sales - (Console+Portable+PC - New Physical Sales Only) | $264.4M | $207.3M | -22% |
Hardware
Hardware sales declined 23 percent compared to April 2015, with the majority of the decline due to a 19 percent or $30.4MM decline in console hardware sales. Compared to last year, dollar spending for 8th generation consoles decreased by 15 percent with an over 70 percent decline in 7th generation consoles. Portables also dropped by $11.3MM in sales over last April.
Despite these declines, keep in mind that Xbox One and PS4 are trending over 40 percent higher in cumulative sales after 30 months in the market compared to their predecessors.
Software
New Physical Software declined in April 2016 due to a few factors: poor comparisons to last year's new releases, and the poor performance of March launches in April compared to last year.
Despite some record-breaking new launches, there were poor comps to the release of Mortal Kombat X in April 2015. Mortal Kombat X was a strong launch last year - its April 2015 sales exceeded that of the entirety of all April 2016 new launches by 18 percent.
Given the strength of March 2016 launches and how they lifted sales over March 2015, it was surprising to see the dollar sales performance drop by 16 percent compared to sales of March launches last April.
Ratchet & Clank had the best launch of any game in the Ratchet & Clank franchise when adjusting for the number of days sold in the data month, with sales recapturing success not seen for the franchise since the height of the PlayStation 2 era.
The launch of Dark Souls III marked the strongest launch in the franchise's history. Sales for Dark Souls III nearly doubled that of its predecessor, Dark Souls II, when adjusted for days in the market.
Unlike hardware trends, in April 2016 we saw declines in 7th generation software of $27.9MM exceed the $22.0MM decrease in sales relative to 8th generation.
When looking at software unit sales raked in on a SKU basis 3DS Bravely Second End Layer and NWU Pokken Tournament would make the top ten list at number 9 and 10, respectively.
| April 2016 Top 10 Games (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms incl. PC) | Rank | Publisher |
|---|---|---|
| Dark Souls III (PS4, XBO)** | 1 | Bandai Namco Games (Corp) |
| Ratchet & Clank 2016 (PS4) | 2 | Sony (Corp) |
| MLB 16: The Show (PS4, PS3)** | 3 | Sony (Corp) |
| Tom Clancy's The Division (PS4, XBO, PC)** | 4 | Ubisoft |
| Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3, PC) | 5 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| Minecraft (XBO, 360, PS4, PS3) | 6 | Microsoft (Corp) |
| Quantum Break (XBO) | 7 | Microsoft (Corp) |
| Call of Duty: Black Ops III (XBO, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)** | 8 | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| NBA 2K16 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)** | 9 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| Star Fox Zero (NWU) | 10 | Nintendo |
Accessories
Video game accessory sales grew 4 percent over April 2015 due to increases for Game Cards (+9 percent), Gamepads (+5 percent) and headphones (+33 percent).
In April 2016, Video Game Points and Subscription Cards was best-selling accessory type in unit and dollar terms.