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NPD May 2015: The Witcher 3 Slays The Competition

By Daniel George

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Each month industry experts are given a report that details all of the consoles and software numbers sold from physical retail brick-and-mortar stores within the United States, which are then reported on by sites privileged with that sort of information. They are published from the NPD group, with this month’s numbers reporting for NPD May 2015.

Top 10 most sold physical software titles in the US, according to NPD May 2015 numbers (bracket order=most-to-least sold version):

  1. The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
  2. Mortal Kombat X (PS4, Xbox One)
  3. Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, PC)
  4. Minecraft (360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4)
  5. Splatoon (Wii U)
  6. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (PS4, 360, Xbox One, PS3, PC)
  7. NBA 2K15 (360, PS4, Xbox One, PS3, PC)
  8. FIFA 15 (PS4, Xbox One, 360, PS3, Wii, 3DS, Vita)
  9. MLB 15: The Show (PS4, PS3)
  10. Super Smash Bros. (3DS, Wii U)

In general, the NPD May 2015 numbers suggest a stark downward sales trend over the same period last year, with 18% decline year-over-year in hardware and 25% decline in software sales year-over-year. Doesn’t seem like The Witcher 3’s impressive sales total carried an otherwise poor output, turns out, against the likes of Mario Kart 8 and Watch Dogs from 2014. Either way, at least Sony seems a bit excited, as the PS4 is the top-selling console in the US once again this may after being usurped by the Xbox One for a single month. The PS4 remained the leader in software sales for the month of May, additionally.

That doesn’t mean that the NPD May 2015 stats aren’t a promise of growth for Microsoft and the Xbox brand, with an 81% improvement in Xbox One sales over the May 2014 period. Furthermore, active Xbox Live figures were up 20% year-over-year. Unfortunately, Nintendo did not comment about NPD May 2015 figures specifically, but earlier in the day they did relay in a press release that the Nintendo 3DS is the 8th system in Nintendo history to sell 15 million+ units in the US within its lifetime.

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When looking at the retail sales order, nothing too remarkable stands out, with the exception of Splatoon. It is the only true exclusive release, it came in at #5 and was released for just 2 days. That is quite a remarkable feat! It will be interesting to see if its sales have legs, considering how content will be updated periodically. I know that I’ll only give it a look past August, when more of its seemingly “should have been here at launch” features are released. Everything else this month seems standard: sports, GTA V, Smash Bros, Minecraft. Like sand through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.

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