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Switch Best-Selling Console in the US in March as Xbox Series X|S Sets Xbox Record

Switch Best-Selling Console in the US in March as Xbox Series X|S Sets Xbox Record - Sales

by William D'Angelo , posted on 25 April 2022 / 11,442 Views

The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in the US in March 2022 in terms of units sold, according to figures from NPD. NPD includes the dates for the five week period of February 27 to April 2.

The Xbox Series X|S was the second best-selling console in terms of units sold, which means the PlayStation 5 came in third place.

The Nintendo Switch is the best-selling console of 2022 in terms of units sold, while the Xbox Series X|S is number one in terms of dollar sales.

The Xbox Series X|S set two new records for the Xbox platform in March 2022, in terms of units sold and dollar sales. The previous records were set in March 2011 for units sold and March 2014 for dollar sales. The previous record for units sold was 433,000 units, which means the Xbox Series X|S sold above this figure for the month.

"Xbox Series was the best-selling hardware platform of both March 2022 and the first quarter in dollars, while Switch led both time periods in unit sales," said NPD analyst Mat Piscatella. 

He added, "Xbox hardware unit and dollar sales in March 2022 set new all-time March highs for the platform. Previous Xbox bests were set in March 2011 (units) and March 2014 (dollars)."

Overall spending on video games in March decreased 15 percent year-over-year from $5.69 billion to $4.85 billion. Spending on video game content in March dropped 13 percent from $4.71 billion to $4.11 billion, while video game hardware sales dropped 24 percent percent from $680 million to $515 million.

Year-to-date sales for 2022 are down eight percent from $15.16 billion to $13.92 billion. Spending on video game content in 2022 dropped seven percent from $13.05 billion to $12.13 billion, while video game hardware sales dropped 15 percent percent from $1.41 billion to $1.20 billion. 

"March 2022 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories declined 15% vs YA, to $4.9B," said Piscatella. "Declines were seen across all major categories of spend. First quarter 2022 spending fell 8% vs Q1 2021, to $13.9B.

"Continued console hardware supply challenges combined with a return to experiential spending are likely drivers of the Q1 declines.

"Video game hardware dollar sales dropped 24% when compared to a year ago, to $515 million. First quarter hardware sales reached $1.2 billion, a 15% decline versus 2021's first quarter."

Elden Ring was the best-selling game in the US in March 2022 on the overall charts, PlayStation charts and Xbox charts.

Elden Ring dollar sales grew in double digital percentage compared to its February 2022 launch month. It remains the best-selling game of 2022 and is the second best-selling game over the 12 month period ending March 2022, only trailing Call of Duty: Vanguard.

"Elden Ring repeated as the best-selling game of the month, as dollar sales experienced double-digit percentage dollar sales growth compared to its Feb 2022 launch." said Piscatella. "Elden Ring ranked first in dollar sales among tracked titles across PlayStation, Xbox and PC.

"Elden Ring remains the best-selling game of 2022 year-to-date, and now ranks second over the 12 month period ending March 2022 with dollar sales trailing only those of Call of Duty: Vanguard."

The PlayStation exclusive, Gran Turismo 7, debuted in second place on the overall charts and PlayStation charts. It set a new record for franchise with the highest launch month dollar sales.

"Gran Turismo 7 debuted as the #2 best-selling game of March 2022, while also ranking 2nd on PlayStation platforms," said Piscatella. "Gran Turismo set a new all-time launch month dollar sales record for a Gran Turismo franchise launch."

Kirby and the Forgotten Land debuted in third place on the overall charts, while MLB: The Show 22 debuted in fourth place, WWE 2K22 in seventh place, and Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin in 10th place.

Here are the top 20 best-selling games in terms of dollars for March 2022:

Top 10 best-selling Nintendo games for March 2022:

Top 10 best-selling PlayStation games for March 2022:

Top 10 best-selling Xbox games for March 2022:

Here are the top 20 best-selling games in year-to-date 2022:


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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25 Comments
UnderwaterFunktown (on 25 April 2022)

Sounds like a great month for both Switch and Xbox. I do wonder what the Series X to S ratio must have been.

  • +9
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ironmanDX trunkswd (on 25 April 2022)

Dollar amount would also indicate heavily towards Series X

  • +4
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y2jarmyofficial trunkswd (on 25 April 2022)

Really ? Man I missed out I’m still waiting for a series x

  • +2

Hard to say but for me I refuse to buy a s I’m waiting for an x to appear at a normal retail price. I’m willing to wait a bit longer till series x appears

  • +2
G2ThaUNiT y2jarmyofficial (on 25 April 2022)

Idk if it's the same in your area, but a Series X is available to buy right now on Best Buy's website.

  • -5
aTokenYeti (on 25 April 2022)

Also mentioned on twitter for Q1 2022 Switch was the number 1 console in units and Xbox number one in dollar sales. Record setting month for Xbox as well.


Very strong month for Switch and Xbox. The year over year supply cliff that PlayStation has experienced is probably the main reason why total hardware is down year over year. It’s not clear that Sony can do anything about it in the short term

  • +5
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xMetroid (on 25 April 2022)

Oh wow Xbox setting a record for the brand is pretty a great turnaround. Even if the situation with PS5 shortage, i feel like this has a lot to do with them doing brand recovering with gamepass and buying deals. There are really well positioned this gen.

  • +4
pukem0n xMetroid (on 25 April 2022)

this really is such a stark contrast to the dumpster fire that was the Xbox One. They are doing everything right, for them and the consumer.

  • +1
SanAndreasX (on 25 April 2022)

Switch is still killin' it.

  • +3
pukem0n SanAndreasX (on 25 April 2022)

I honestly believe it will overtake the PS2 as the most sold console ever. Switch might reach PS2 numbers in about 30 months.

  • +3
darthv72 pukem0n (on 25 April 2022)

It's def a different time between then and now. PS2 reached those numbers thanks to multiple price drops over the course of its life. Switch hasn't really had any. A revision that amounted to a lower price but that's about it. Not to mention the PS2 also went through some rough patches with reliability in the first few years. something the switch has yet to really have happen (except for joycon woes). Switch could very well pass the PS2 but its def going to pass PS4 this year alone.

  • +3
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aTokenYeti trunkswd (on 25 April 2022)

Any idea what the Q1 2022 US numbers would be then?

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jvmkdg trunkswd (on 25 April 2022)

there was a lot of ps5 here in europe last week i saw several of them in store for the official price i hope you take that into account.

  • +2
aTokenYeti jvmkdg (on 25 April 2022)

April is part of Q2. Q1 is January, February, March

  • +1
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scrapking trunkswd (on 25 April 2022)

I continue to suspect that Sony air-shipped consoles in Q4 '21 more than Microsoft did, and part of Microsoft out-shipping Sony in Q1 '22 is they had more consoles in the sea-shipping channel than Sony did. So Sony front-loaded things more than Microsoft, in other words.

  • -2
Kakadu18 trunkswd (on 25 April 2022)

Isn't Sony's report on May 10th?

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