Switch Best-Selling Console in the US in April, Xbox Series X|S Takes 2nd and PS5 3rd - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 13 May 2022 / 7,079 Views
The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in the US in April 2022 and 2022 year-to-date in terms of units sold, according to figures from The NPD Group. NPD includes the dates for the four week period of April 3 to April 30.
The Xbox Series X|S was the second best-selling console in terms of units sold in April 2022 and 2022 year-to-date. This does mean the PlayStation 5 takes third place in terms of units sold in both April 2022 and 2022 year-to-date.
The Nintendo Switch has outsold lifetime sales of the PlayStation 4 and is now the 4th best-selling console in US history, behind the PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii. It is also the 6th best-selling video game platform when you add in handhelds.
While the PS5 took third place when it comes to units sold in April, it led in hardware dollar sales, while the Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch were closely behind. The Xbox Series X|S has generated the most hardware revenue of 2022, followed by the PS5 and Switch.
Overall spending on video games in April decreased eight percent year-over-year from $4.73 billion to $4.34 billion. Spending on video game content dropped 10 percent from $4.27 billion to $3.81 billion, while video game hardware sales increased 16 percent percent from $295 million to $343 million.
Year-to-date sales for 2022 are down eight percent from $19.89 billion to $18.26 billion. Spending on video game content in 2022 dropped eight percent from $17.31 billion to $15.97 billion, while video game hardware sales dropped nine percent percent from $1.70 billion to $1.54 billion.
"April 2022 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories declined 8% when compared to a year ago, to $4.3 billion," said The NPD Group Executive Director and Video Game Industry Advisor Mat Piscatella. "Hardware gains were unable to offset declines in content and accessories spending.
"Year-to-date 2022 spending is 8% lower than the same period a year ago, at $18.3 billion. The market has experienced 6 consecutive months of YoY declines.
"Video game hardware dollar sales increased 16% when compared to a year ago, to $343 million, due to improved supply of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles. Year-to-date spending on hardware fell 9%, to $1.5 billion."
LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was the best-selling game in the US in April 2022 on the overall charts, Nintendo charts, PlayStation charts and Xbox charts. The game after one month is already the second best-selling game of 2022, behind only Elden Ring.
The LEGO game also set a record for the highest launch LEGO title in history in terms of revenue. After one month it is also the sixth best-selling LEGO game ever.
"LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was the best-selling game of April 2022, while also debuting as the #2 best-selling game of 2022 year-to-date," said Piscatella. "It was the best-selling game of the month across Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox and Steam platforms.
"LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga achieved the highest launch month dollar sales for any LEGO title in history, and after one month ranks among the top six best-selling LEGO games life-to-date.
"LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is the first 3rd party game to rank as the best-selling title on Nintendo platforms since March 2021 (Monster Hunter: Rise)."
Elden Ring was the second best-selling game of April 2022 and remains the best-selling game of 2022. It has also surpassed Call of Duty: Vanguard as the best-selling game over the 12 month period from May 2021 to April 2022.
"Elden Ring was the 2nd best-selling title of April 2022," said Piscatella. "Elden Ring remains the best-selling game of 2022 year-to-date and has surpassed Call of Duty: Vanguard to become the best-selling premium game of the trailing 12-month period ending April 2022."
Here are the top 20 best-selling games in terms of dollars for April 2022:
Top 10 best-selling Nintendo games for April 2022:
Top 10 best-selling PlayStation games for April 2022:
Top 10 best-selling Xbox games for April 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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I think the switch will pass the ps4 until August.
PS being second in dollar value means it was probably pretty close between it and Xbox.
Also, with the situation in China and manufacturing I do not foresee a situation where Switch is anything less than #1 in month to month unit sales for the remainder of the year
actually it was the first in dollar
If Sony And MS revenue were close it means Series S sold double what PS did since PS5 price much higher than Series S...
The Series S isn't half of the PS5 in price and isn't 100% of the Xbox hardware sold. This also doesn't take the PS5 DE into account.
90% is series S at least. Price is known. PS5 on the oher hand is not sold in regular price unfortunately.
