February 2022 NPD: Elden Ring is a smash hit | VentureBeat
Not going to repost the charts, but some cool things.
First off, kudos to From Software for making such a wonderful game. Also, I'm glad that such a game managed to garner so many sales.
Second, COD not in one of the top 3 spots? /gasp.
Also, great job for Horizon Forbidden West managing to grab the 2nd spot despite being limited to PlayStation consoles. Imagine what monster sales it could have had if it was multiplatform. It also set a new launch record for PS5. Interestingly, they specified PS5 and not PlayStation in genera.
“Horizon Forbidden West was the second-best-selling game of February 2022, while also ranking first on PlayStation platforms,” said Piscatella. “Dollar sales of the PlayStation 5 version of Horizon II: Forbidden West set a new launch month record for the PlayStation 5 platform.”
PC only title Total War: Warhammer III making the 8th spot is great considering it has 2 things going against it. First, it's PC only. Second, it's a strategy title.
And, it's on Game Pass. Which some people would argue reduces sales, but in my opinion that likely helped it sell more copies. So, uh, yeah. That Game Pass sure is hurting sales of games.
“Total War: Warhammer III debuted as the No. 5 best-selling game of February 2022, while also ranking second on Steam,” said Piscatella. “The title also launched as part of the PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription services.”
Also, Minecraft...
No GTA V, but somehow enough people lost their mind and got the GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition that it actually charted. I wonder if the release of the PS5/XBS version of GTA V will propel it back into NPD's top 20 when it comes out?
And you can tell it's not the Holiday Season anymore. "Only" 6 Nintendo titles in the top 20.
Xbox Elite controller looking strong.
I'm going to speculate that this is the Elden Ring effect. I think many people might have gotten a new controller just to play this game on PC. I'm using KBM, but I suspect most people are using controller. I've heard people mentioning getting an Elite 2 to play Elden Ring, but haven't seen any mentioning getting a PS5 controller to play it.
Regards,
SB
