The NPD September 2020 report has been released, and it finds total industry spending up 10% year-over-year. Software sales year-to-date totaled $33.7 billion, up 21% over the same period in 2019. Marvel’s Avengers was the best-selling title of September. Launch month sales of the title were the highest for any superhero game in US history, trailing only Marvel’s Spider-Man. The game is now the seventh best-selling game of 2020. Super Mario 3D All-Stars was the second best-selling game for the month. The game trails only Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Pokemon Stadium in physical launch month dollar sales. The fourth best-selling game of September was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2. It achieved the highest launch title sales in franchise history. Crusader Kings 3 was the seventh best-selling game of September. The title achieved the highest launch month dollar sales of any title published by Paradox Interactive. While Star Wars: Squadrons and Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time are technically October releases, the games arrived on the second which is part of the last week of September. Star Wars Squadrons came in ninth on the list, and Crash Bandicoot 4 came in eleventh. It’s possible the games will chart higher in October since the games came out on the tail end of the period. A look at the best-selling games for September can be found below. The best-selling games for PS4, Switch, and Xbox One can be found in the gallery.
Hardware spending came in at $277 million, a 15% increase year-over-year. Growth in sales of Nintendo Switch offset declines of other console platforms. Switch was the best-selling console for the month in both dollars and units. Year-to-date spending on hardware increased by 22% year-over-year to $2.3 billion. Spending on accessories hit a record of $191 million, up 30% year-over-year. Year-to-date spending increased by 26% to $1.6 billion. The Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller was once again the best-selling accessory of both September and year-to-date in dollar sales. Overall, spending across accessories, content, and hardware reached $4.3 billion in September. This is a 10% increase year-over-year, with accessories, hardware, and mobile showing the largest growth segments. Year-to-date spending totaled $33.7 billion, which is up 21% year-over-year.
