January 2018 marked a fantastic running start for the gaming industry. According to NPD Group analysis, the gaming industry generated $1.1 billion in sales, an increase of 59 percent from 2017. However, that’s not the end of it.
Capcom, Bandai Namco and Arc System Works came out huge in January, despite their games, Monster Hunter World (all-time franchise launch month high) and Dragon Ball FighterZ (second highest launch since 2002’s Dragon Ball Z: Budokai) releasing towards the tail end of the month. Monster Hunter World sold over five million copies of the game in the first weekend of its launch, and Dragon Ball FighterZ saw 44K concurrent users on Steam in its first day. Overall, software sales across consoles, portable systems and PC were up 51 percent versus a year ago, generating $517 million.
As for hardware sales, where the Nintendo Switch was the highest selling system in the month, the PlayStation 4 generated the most revenue. When it comes to dollar sales, the gap between the top-selling platform and the third best-selling was only 3 percent, indicating that the Xbox One did just as well in January as Sony’s and Nintendo’s offerings. Total hardware sales amounted to $278 million and is on record as the highest since January 2011’s $323 million in revenue.
In Nintendo 3DS news, January laid witness to the resurgence of interest in Nintendo’s portable system, generating the best-recorded (in the lifespan of the 3DS) hardware dollar sales since January of 2014, and unit sales were the highest since January 2013.
Check out the rankings for the month of January:
Overall
- Monster Hunter: World
- Dragon Ball: Fighterz
- Call of Duty: WWII
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds*
- Grand Theft Auto V
- NBA 2K18
- Super Mario Odyssey**
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild**
- Mario Kart 8**
- Madden NFL 18
- Star Wars: Battlefront II*
- Assassin’s Creed: Origins
- UFC 3
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
- FIFA 18*
- Dragon Ball: Xenoverse
- The Sims 4*
- Splatoon 2**
- Dissidia: Final Fantasy NT
- Need for Speed: Payback*
* No PC digital sales
** No digital sales
Xbox One
- Monster Hunter: World
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Dragon Ball Fighterz
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Star Wars: Battlefront II
- NBA 2K18
- Madden NFL 18
- Assassin’s Creed: Origins
- UFC 3
PlayStation 4
- Monster Hunter: World
- Dragon Ball Fighterz
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Grand Theft Auto V
- NBA 2K18
- Madden NFL 18
- Dissidia: Final Fantasy NT
- Star Wars: Battlefront II
- UFC 3
- FIFA 18
Nintendo Switch**
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Mario Kart 8
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Splatoon 2
- Pokken Tournament DX
- Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2
- ARMS
- Mario & Rabbids: Kingdom Battle
- Doom 2016
Nintendo 3DS**
- Pokemon: Ultra Sun
- Pokemon: Ultra Moon
- Mario Kart 7
- Mario Party: The Top 100
- Minecraft
- Super Mario Maker
- Super Smash Bros.
- Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions
- New Super Mario Bros. 2
- Kirby: Battle Royale
