Switch Sales Set Record in April in the US, Final Fantasy VII Remake Sets Franchise Record - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 02 June 2020 / 6,999 Views
The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in the US in March 2020, outselling the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, according to figures from NPD.
Nintendo Switch sales for April 2020 in the US were 808,000 units, according to analyst Michael Pachter who provided the numbers to Media Play News. The PlayStation 4 sold 411,000 units and the Xbox One sold 329,000 units.
Overall spending on hardware increased 163 percent year-on-year to $420 million, while spending on software jumped 34 percent to $739 million. Overall spending on video games increased 35 percent to $1.6 billion.
"April 2020 tracked spending across video game hardware, software, accessories, and game cards totaled $1.5 billion, 73% higher when compared to a year ago," said NPD analyst Mat Piscatella. "This is a new record high in reported spend for an April month, eclipsing the $1.2 billion generated in April 2008."
"Dollar sales of tracked video game software increased 55% in April compared to a year ago, to $662 million," said Piscatella. "This is a new record high for an April month. The previous record of $642 million was set in April 2008."
The US video game market in 2020 through April has earned a total $4.5 billion, which is up from $4.02 during the same period in 2019.
Spending on video game hardware in the first four months of 2020 increased from $0.92 billion last year to $1.19 billion. Video game software has also increased from $1.91 billion in 2019 to $2.02 billion in 2020. Revenue from video game accessories and game cards increased from $1.19 billion to $1.29 billion.
"Year-to-date 2020 tracked spending across video game hardware, software, accessories, and game cards reached $4.5 billion," said Piscatella. "[That’s up] 12% when compared to a year ago."
Final Fantasy VII Remake was the best-selling game in April and immediately becomes the third best-selling game in 2020 and best-selling PS4 game in 2020. The game also set a new launch month record for the Final Fantasy franchise in terms of units sold and revenue.
"Final Fantasy VII Remake was the best-selling game of April and instantly becomes the No. 3 best-selling game year-to-date," said Piscatella. "Final Fantasy VII Remake is currently the best-selling game of 2020 on PlayStation 4."
"Final Fantasy VII Remake sets a new launch month Final Fantasy franchise sales record in both unit and dollar sales,” Piscatella added. "Both records were previously held by Final Fantasy XV, which launched in the December 2016 tracking period."
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is once again the second best-selling game and remains the best-selling game of 2020 and for the 12 month period ending April 2020.
"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare repeats as the No. 2 best-selling game of the month, and remains the best-selling game both year-to-date as well as for the 12-month period ending April 2020," said Piscatella. "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is currently the fourth fastest-selling release in U.S. tracked history (dollar sales through the first seven months in market)."
Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the third best-selling game in April 2020 and is the second best-selling game overall in 2020. It is also the best-selling Switch game for the last 12 months.
"Animal Crossing: New Horizons ranked as the third best-selling game of April, and repeats as the second best-selling game of 2020 year to date," said Piscatella. "Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the best-selling title on Switch for the 12-month period ending April 2020."
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Remastered was the seventh best-selling game in April with the launch of the Xbox One version.
"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Remastered finished April as the No. 7 best-selling game of the month following its release on the Xbox One platform," said Piscatella. "Three Call of Duty franchise titles finished among the top 10 best-selling games of April on Xbox One, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Remastered, and Call of Duty: Black Ops III."
Here are the top 20 best-selling games in terms of dollars for April 2020:
- Final Fantasy VII: Remake
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
- NBA 2K20
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Resident Evil 3
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Remastered
- MLB: The Show 20
- Madden NFL 20 [EA Sports]
- Red Dead Redemption II
- Just Dance 2020
- FIFA 20 [EA Sports]
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Borderlands 3
- Predator: Hunting Grounds
- Mario Kart 8: Deluxe*
- Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order
- Persona 5: Royal
- Need for Speed: Heat
- Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
* Digital sales not included
Here are the lists of top 10 selling games by platform for the month:
Top 10 best-selling Xbox One games for April 2020
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Remastered
- Grand Theft Auto V
- NBA 2K20
- Resident Evil 3
- Madden NFL 20 [EA Sports]
- Red Dead Redemption II
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III
- Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order
- FIFA 20 [EA Sports]
Top 10 best-selling PlayStation 4 games for April 2020
- Final Fantasy VII: Remake
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- NBA 2K20
- Grand Theft Auto V
- MLB: The Show 20
- Resident Evil 3
- Predator: Hunting Grounds
- Madden NFL 20 [EA Sports]
- Persona 5: Royal
- Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition
Top 10 best-selling Nintendo Switch games for April 2020
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
- Mario Kart 8: Deluxe*
- Just Dance 2020
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe*
- Luigi’s Mansion 3*
- Pokémon: Sword*
- Trials of Mana
- Super Mario Party*
Top 10 best-selling games of 2020 through April 2020
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
- Final Fantasy VII: Remake
- NBA 2K20
- Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
- MLB: The Show 20
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Resident Evil 3
- Madden NFL 20 [EA Sports]
- Mario Kart 8: Deluxe*
Thanks VentureBeat.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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I'm starting to think coronavirus might actually be helping Switch sales. I know they're struggling to keep them in stock but they're clearly not that scarce, not in the US anyway. Just wait until all the pent up demand is released!
April was selling the existing stock. It's out of stock now. FOr all of May it could not be found on Amazon.
Oh I didn't notice it's sold out on Amazon now. It'll be interesting to see how much it manages to sell in May then.
Congrats FF7!!!
*Does Not include digital sales
Any FFVIIR news is always music to my ears.
I'm glad it's slaying FFXV as it should be. It's on its way to being the best selling FF game and on track to beat out the original's sales.
Hopefully this bodes well for FFXVI being a return to form for the series.
I'd also like to add that it's great to see Persona 5 Royal in the top 10 best selling PS4 games in April. It was top 3 in March I believe. The game set record sales according to Sega.
It's awesome to see how far this has come from a somewhat niche franchise to a JRPG behemoth that is the highest rated PS4 exclusive this generation.
what an insane month. We won't see anything like that for a looooooooooong time...
Glad to see FF7R doing well, but Switch and Animal Crossing are absolute beasts. I also notice that Doom Eternal didn't even crack the top 20 this month, or the top 10 of either PS4 or X1, and it sounds like there was a lot of trouble behind the scenes at id and Bethesda.
And Take-Two could never make another game again and they still wouldn't go broke.
CoD Warzone is addicting like crack, still however Animal Crossing probably beats the charts with digital included.
Digital sales of Animal Crossing should be pretty high in April. Since there are no numbers it could even be at no. 2 or 1.
Animal crossing is doing well despite the low user score on metacritic
great for FF7!! doesn't the chart lose its credibility though, if Nintendo digital is not included? :/
I think we'll still see strong sales, but they will be down from here. Since in the U.S. (at least), states started to reopen businesses on May 1st.
The supply constraints will probably hurt the Switch in the coming months. You can't buy one here in my neck of the woods right now, with pre-orders for June taking place...
