January NPD Sales Numbers

Originally published on Trevor Trove on February 13, 2016

I may or may not have cut my Favorite Games of the PlayStation 2 series short last night to spend some time focusing on the NPD numbers. Because I may or may not be a huge sales/data nerd. As 2015 ended, I made the following predictions for January 2016:

With January relatively light on new blockbuster releases, I imagine people will continue spending their money of most of the December list. In fact it wouldn’t surprise me if the list looked more or less the same next month. LEGO Marvel’s Avengers might just barely crack the list when it launches January 26th, probably taking Rainbow Six‘s spot on the list but I it might also hit so late that it’ll make the February chart instead. We’ll see next month.

So how’d I do?

January 2016 Sales:

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops III (XBO, PS4, 360, PS3, PC) – was #1 in Nov, #1 in Dec
2. Grant Theft Auto V (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3, PC) – appeared at #4 in July, then #6 in Dec
3. NBA 2K16 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3) – was #1 in Sept, #2 in Oct, #5 in Nov, #7 in Dec
4. Star Wars Battlefront (XBO, PS4, PC) – was #3 in Nov (when it sold best on PS4), # 2 in Dec
5. Fallout 4 (PS4, XBO, PC) – was #2 in Nov, #3 in Dec
6. Minecraft (360, XBO, PS4, PS3) – last appeared at #10 in Sept, #8 in Dec
7. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege (XBO, PS4, PC) – was #7 in Dec.
8. Madden NFL 16 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3) – was #2 in Sept, #4 in Oct, #4 in Nov, #4 in Dec
9. LEGO Marvel’s Avengers (PS4, XBO, 360, Wii U, PS3, 3DS, PSV
10. FIFA 16 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3) – was #4 in Sept, #6 in Oct, #6 in Nov, #10 in Dec

So, as predicted, this list looks mostly like the December 2015 list, with 9 out of 10 of December’s entries returning, albeit a bit jumbled. LEGO Marvel’s Avengers did indeed make its way onto the list but it bumped off Minecraft Story Mode instead of Rainbow Six. Not much else of note here. The juggernaut of Grand Theft Auto V passed 60 million units sold in January, most likely with new generation owners picking up the game to supplement their holiday gifts.

With Street Fighter V being the only major new physical release in February this coming week, I imagine that will wind up as the only new title on next months list. And despite somewhat negative critical response, LEGO Marvel’s Avengers will most likely rise in the charts next month when it has a whole month’s worth of sales behind it. And with football season done, I imagine February will be the month Madden finally slips from the charts.

As always, we’ll see next month.