The NPD Group has released their full North American sales data for February 2022, and while the industry was down overall due to lower hardware sales, the battle for the top of the software chart was intense. Overall, players spent $4.4 billion on games, additional content, and hardware in February, representing a year-on-year decrease of 6 percent. On the hardware front, the Switch came out on top in terms of both dollar and unit sales, followed by the Xbox Series X/S and then the severely supply-constrained PS5.
Turning to software, Elden Ring is a bonafide hit, racking up more launch month sales than any other game released during the last 12 months, with the exception of Call of Duty: Vanguard. Horizon Forbidden West came in at #2 delivering the best launch-month sales of any PS5 game to date. Other new additions include Dying Light 2 at #4 and Total War: Warhammer III at #5. Meanwhile, last month’s #1, Pokemon Legends: Arceus, held strong at #3 against tough competition.
Here are February’s top 20 games according to NPD:
- Elden Ring
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Pokemon Legends: Arceus
- Dying Light 2 Stay Human
- Total War: Warhammer III
- Call of Duty: Vanguard
- Madden NFL 22
- Mario Kart 8
- FIFA 22
- Minecraft
- Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Mario Party Superstars
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
- Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition
- NBA 2K22
- Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl
- Far Cry 6
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
And here are the top-10 best-selling games of 2022 thus far:
- Elden Ring
- Pokemon Legends: Arceus
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Call of Duty: Vanguard
- Madden NFL 22
- Dying Light 2 Stay Human
- Monster Hunter Rise
- Total War: Warhammer III
- God of War
- Spider-Man: Miles Morales
February was a big month, and March is almost as busy. It will be interesting see which February titles continue to hold strong.
