NPD December 2021

[Silent_Buddha]

The site I usually use for this still hasn't written an article about it, so it's just grabbing things from various places just to consolidate it here.

Hardware unit sales.

1. NSW
2. XBS
3. PS5

Hardware revenue sales.

1. NSW
2. PS5 - almost tied with NSW
3. XBS

Considering that NSW has a much lower ASP (retail, not scalper) than PS5, it may have sold up to 40% more units than PS5. Up to 40% because while NSW is only 299 USD retail with PS5 being 499 USD retail, there is some amount of PS5-DE that probably sold that month at 399 USD retail.

Top 20 software sales (revenue)

1. Call of Duty: Vanguard
2. Halo Infinite
3. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl*
4. Madden NFL 22
5. Battlefield 2042
6. Mario Kart 8*
7. Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
8. Mario Party Superstars*
9. NBA 2K22*
10. Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
11. FIFA 22
12. Super. Smash Bros Ultimate*
13. Minecraft
14. Far Cry 6
15. Just Dance 2022
16. Forza Horizon 5
17. Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy
18. Ghost of Tsushima
19. Super Mario 3D World*
20. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*

Halo was #1 in sales on both Xbox and PC. Read that again. It sold better than COD on Xbox and PC for December ... and Halo was on Game Pass. And if you don't think COD sold a lot in Dec.? If we look at PS5, it was the #1 seller there. If not for Halo, it would have been #1 on Xbox as well.

I'm surprised that Forza Horizon 5 was ahead of Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. Guardians of the Galaxy is a critically acclaimed (both reviewers and consumers) MARVEL's universe game. FH5 is on Game Pass (some people think this should reduce sales), is a racing game (most consumers don't even consider racing games something worth buying) and on 1 fewer platform.

Holy shit do people love buying NSW games in December. I think Zelda: BOTW has been in the top 20 for every single December NPD since it launched.

Minecraft is in the top 20 while GTA V isn't. I think Minecraft has also charted in every Dec. NPD. I'm too lazy to go look and see if that's true.

I'm surprised the new Ratchet and Clank wasn't on the list. I would imagine that should have been popular with the kids and thus sold well in December, but obviously not popular enough to sell well enough to make it into the top 20. Sony still got Spider-Man and Ghost of Tsushima on the list, however.

Top 20 software sales (revenue) of 2021

1. Call of Duty: Vanguard
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
3. Madden NFL 22
4. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl*
5. Battlefield 2042
6. Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
7. Mario Kart 8*
8. Resident Evil Village
9. MLB The Show 21^
10. Super Mario 3D World *
11. Far Cry 6
12. FIFA 22
13. Minecraft
14. Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
15. NBA 2K22*
    
16. Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
17. Super. Smash Bros Ultimate*
18. Back 4 Blood
19. Mortal Kombat 11
20. Forza Horizon 5

I guess the new R&C just isn't a big pull with consumers. Sony still got Spider-Man and MLB: The Show 21 in the list. That ranking for MLB: The Show 21 is not counting digital sales on Xbox.

Again, I'm somewhat baffled that Forza Horizon 5 managed to make the list but Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy didn't. And that's with FH5 releasing 2 weeks after Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy. An open world racing game selling better than a Marvel IP, especially when this Marvel game was a really good game?

Regards,
SB

 

[iroboto]

Oh thank god GTAV did not make top 20

 

[Johnny Awesome]

Last time I looked at the leaderboards in FH5 there were 14 million people who had played it. It's crazy. The game is a big success.

 

[BRiT]

It was over 15 Million as of January 9, 2022.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1480133642869432321

 

[milk]

I think R&C did not sell so well because it appeals more to children, and I think few children are early adopters of premium hard-core consoles such as the ps5. These kinds of titles do better later in a consoles life-cycle.

 

[Nesh]

I think R&C did not sell so well because it appeals more to children, and I think few children are early adopters of premium hard-core consoles such as the ps5. These kinds of titles do better later in a consoles life-cycle.

A magnificent game indeed, but yes, it isnt appealing to the grown ups. It is very underestimated. Its all in the parent to buy it. The gameplay doesnt do it much favors either.
The gameplay falls a bit in the mature side of things which isnt very friendly for kids.
So you ve got a family friendly art style, a mixture of mature and very young themes and a gameplay that requires some mature skill.
It is not an a clear sell for everyone.

 

[Jay]

I think R&C did not sell so well because it appeals more to children, and I think few children are early adopters of premium hard-core consoles such as the ps5. These kinds of titles do better later in a consoles life-cycle.

Is there any PS5 exclusive on the list.
I'm not sure you can use this as a metric of how well it sold?
Probably also appeals to a wider audience than Returnal and Demon souls even.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Is there any PS5 exclusive on the list.
I'm not sure you can use this as a metric of how well it sold?
Probably also appeals to a wider audience than Returnal and Demon souls even.

Good point. This would then be evidence that all the people that say Sony should stop making cross generation games because PS4 owners aren't buying many games are wrong.

That's if we go with the narrative that the only reason R&C isn't in the Top 20 was due to it not being on PS4 and thus it sold a lot less copies than it could have.

Regards,
SB