Switch Best-Selling Console in the US in February, PS5 Fastest-Selling Console After 4 Months - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 01 April 2021 / 4,716 Views
The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in the US in February 2021 in terms of unit and dollar sales, according to figures from NPD. NPD includes the dates for January 31 through February 27. Sales for the Switch were the highest of any platform in January since the Wii in February 2009.
The Switch has been the best-selling console for 27 consecutive months, since December 2018, which is the longest streak since NPD started tracking sales numbers.
"Nintendo Switch was the best-selling hardware platform in both units and dollars in February," said NPD analyst Mat Piscatella. "Unit and dollar sales of Nintendo Switch hardware in February were the highest for any hardware platform in a February month since the Nintendo Wii in February 2009."
The PlayStation 5 was the second best-selling console in terms of unit and dollar sales. The PS5 is the fastest-selling hardware platform in US history in terms of total dollar sales after four months.
"PlayStation 5 ranked as the 2nd best-selling hardware platform in February in both unit and dollar sales. PlayStation 5 is currently the fastest-selling hardware platform in U.S. history (total dollar sales after 4 months in market)," said Piscatella.
Overall spending on video games increased 35 percent year-over-year from $3.40 billion to $4.60 billion in February. Overall spending on hardware increased a massive 121 percent year-on-year from $184 million to $406 million. Spending on video game content increased 30 percent year-over-year from $3.08 billion to $4.00 billion.
"February 2021 consumer spending across video game hardware, content, and accessories reached a February record $4.6 billion," said Piscatella. "[That is] 35% higher when compared to a year ago."
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury debuted as the best-selling game in the US in February 2021 and is already the second best-selling game in 2021, despite not including digital sales.
"Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury debuts as the best-selling game of February," said Piscatella. "The title also ranks as the second best-selling game of 2021 year to date, despite the lack of digital sales tracking for Nintendo published titles."
Little Nightmares II also had a good start as it debuted in sixth place. It was the fifth best-selling game on Xbox and 10th on PlayStation.
"Little Nightmares II launched as the sixth best-selling game of February,” said Piscatella. "Little Nightmares II ranked as the fifth best-selling game on Xbox platforms, while placing 10th on PlayStation."
Here are the top 20 best-selling games in terms of dollars for February 2021:
| Rank | Last Month Rank | February 2021 Top 20 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital from the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation, STEAM and Xbox platforms for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | NEW | Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury* | Nintendo |
| 2 | 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 3 | NEW | Persona 5: Strikers | Sega/Atlus |
| 4 | 3 | Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales | Sony (Corp) |
| 5 | 4 | Madden NFL 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 6 | NEW | Little Nightmares II | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| 7 | 2 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Ubisoft |
| 8 | 6 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe* | Nintendo |
| 9 | 5 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons* | Nintendo |
| 10 | 8 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 11 | 12 | FIFA 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 12 | 10 | NBA 2K21* | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| 13 | 9 | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* | Nintendo |
| 14 | 14 | Mortal Kombat 11 | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| 15 | 11 | Super Mario 3D All-Stars* | Nintendo |
| 16 | 7 | Ring Fit Adventure* | Nintendo |
| 17 | 15 | Just Dance 2021 | Ubisoft |
| 18 | 17 | Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition | Microsoft (Corp) |
| 19 | 16 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* | Nintendo |
| 20 | 13 | Immortals: Fenyx Rising | Ubisoft |
| * Digital sales not included |
Top 10 best-selling Nintendo games for February 2021:
| Rank | Last Month Rank | February 2021 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | NEW | Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury* | Nintendo |
| 2 | 2 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe* | Nintendo |
| 3 | 1 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons* | Nintendo |
| 4 | 4 | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* | Nintendo |
| 5 | 5 | Super Mario 3D All-Stars* | Nintendo |
| 6 | 3 | Ring Fit Adventure* | Nintendo |
| 7 | 6 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* | Nintendo |
| 8 | 7 | Just Dance 2021 | Ubisoft |
| 9 | 8 | Super Mario Party* | Nintendo |
| 10 | 9 | New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe* | Nintendo |
| * Digital sales not included |
Top 10 best-selling PlayStation games for February 2021:
| Rank | Last Month Rank | February 2021 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 2 | 2 | Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales | Sony (Corp) |
| 3 | NEW | Persona 5: Strikers | Sega/Atlus |
| 4 | 4 | Madden NFL 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 5 | 3 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Ubisoft |
| 6 | 5 | Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition | Microsoft (Corp) |
| 7 | 9 | NBA 2K21 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| 8 | 8 | FIFA 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 9 | 10 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 10 | NEW | Little Nightmares II | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| * Digital sales not included |
Top 10 best-selling Xbox games for February 2021:
| Rank | Last Month Rank | February 2021 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 2 | 3 | Madden NFL 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 3 | 2 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Ubisoft |
| 4 | 4 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 5 | NEW | Little Nightmares II | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| 6 | 5 | Forza Horizon 4 | Microsoft (Corp) |
| 7 | 8 | FIFA 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 8 | 9 | Minecraft: Xbox One Edition | Microsoft (Corp) |
| 9 | 12 | Mortal Kombat 11 | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| 10 | 10 | UFC 4 | Electronic Arts |
| * Digital sales not included |
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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Holy smokes Switch must've sold a lot more than ps5 it even beat ps5 in dollar sales
https://cutt.ly/bzOXEWe
Not in Canada. That seems like a US problem.
I've been trying to buy one PS5 since November and it's essentially impossible for someone who works and can't follow stock drops in the few seconds after the hardware becomes available. It's absolutely nuts! I think if it wasn't for the shortfall of supply the PS5 would easily have beaten any other platform for the past months, at least here in the EU (Portugal). Even yesterday I tried to buy a Digital Edition for 520 euros but the guy wouldn't sell it for less than 580 euros (a markup of 45%). This gives you an idea of the acuteness of the lack of PS5 in the market.
Sorry about your luck. I've been nervous thinking about the next time I'm trying to get new hardware at launch. But hopefully you'll find one soon. They might be more available towards the summer. Hopefully anyway.
And why is it that I always see botw on top 20 US list every time
It sells the amount of units such that all games but 20 sell less.
