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While the post-2021 bust continues for the video game industry, hardware sales are looking particularly promising. According to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group, hardware spending is up, while year-on-year spending is still in the negative. Sports games are also taking their place as the fall best-sellers, as is typical. Other new titles are reaching for the top of the charts, including Splatoon 3 and The Last of Us Part 1.

September 2022 Dollar Sales, MillionsSeptember
2021
September
2022
Change
Total Video Game Sales$4,260$4,073-4%
Video Game Content (Physical & Digital Full Game, DLC/MTX and Subscription consumer spending across Console, Cloud, Mobile*, Portable, PC and VR) platforms)$3,676$3,408-7%
Video Game Hardware$410$49019%
Video Game Accessories$174$1740%
*Mobile spending provided by Sensor Tower

“U.S. consumer spending on video game content, hardware and accessories reached $4.1 billion during the month of September 2022, a decline of 4% when compared to the same month a year ago,” said NPD analyst Mat Piscatella.

The rise in hardware sales is largely thanks to the increased supply of the PlayStation 5. It’s not quite so hard to find as before, and it ranked first in both unit and dollar sales. Hardware is one of the areas of consistent growth in the last few months.

Year-to-Date 2022 Dollar Sales, MillionsYTD
2021
YTD
2022
Change
Total Video Game Sales$41,800$38,398-8%
Video Game Content (Physical & Digital Full Game, DLC/MTX and Subscription consumer spending across Console, Cloud, Mobile*, Portable, PC and VR) platforms)$36,611$33,486-9%
Video Game Hardware$3,408$3,359-1%
Video Game Accessories$1,781$1,554-13%
*Mobile spending provided by Sensor Tower

Piscatella added, “Year-to-date total video game spending across content, hardware and accessories is now 8% lower than 2021, at $38.4 billion.”

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September 2022 NPD: Top 20 best-selling games of the month in the U.S.

NPD tracks physical sales at retailers, but it also gets digital data directly from publishers. Not every company participates. For example, Nintendo doesn’t share its first-party sales, and Activision Blizzard does not provide its Battle.net sales.

These charts are sorted by dollar sales — not number of units sold. And this is for full-game sales and does not include in-game spending.

RankLast
Month
Rank
All PlatformsPublisher
1NEWFIFA 23Electronic Arts
21Madden NFL 23Electronic Arts
3NEWNBA 2K23*Take-Two Interactive (Corp)
4NEWSplatoon 3*Nintendo
5NEWThe Last of Us: Part 1Sony (Corp)
6NEWTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga CollectionKonami Digital Ent.
72Saints Row (2022)Plaion
8NEWJoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star BattleBandai Namco Entertainment
94Elden RingBandai Namco Entertainment
106Mario Kart 8*Nintendo
117MinecraftMultiple Video Game Manufacturers
123Marvel’s Spider-ManSony (Corp)
138LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker SagaWarner Bros. Interactive
1416Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*Nintendo
1524Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold WarActivision Blizzard (Corp)
1612Horizon II: Forbidden WestSony (Corp)
1713Call of Duty: VanguardActivision Blizzard (Corp)
1836Assassin’s Creed: ValhallaUbisoft
199MLB: The Show 22^Multiple Video Game Manufacturers
2039Dragon Ball Z: KakarotBandai Namco Entertainment
*Digital sales not included
^Xbox & Switch digital sales not included

The best-selling games list is all over the place this month — a mix of new releases and lower-ranked games made a jump in the rankings. It’s no longer just Elden Ring and LEGO Star Wars dominating the charts, as they’ve done for most of the year. Last month’s release Saints Row continues to rank well, and Marvel’s Spider-Man is still swinging high (sorry) on its PC release.

Some of the older games getting a rank boost include Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. The new interest in Valhalla likely comes from a recent update, as well as Ubisoft’s early September conference, which revealed the future of the AC franchise. Similarly, Bandai Namco delivered news about updates to Kakarot at the recent Tokyo Game Show, which is likely why it also jumped up a few ranks.

FIFA 23

You might notice a theme to the games at the top of the list. Madden, NBA and FIFA games are all up there, making it a pretty sports-heavy month. This isn’t a surprise, though. If you look at the charts from NPD for September 2021, the same three franchises are in the top three spots (not in the same order, though). It’s also the swan song of the FIFA games series, which will live under the new title EA Sports FC.

Splatoon 3

Several new games are ranking on the list this month, including Splatoon 3, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, The Last of Us Part 1 and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle. Given that these are all tied to popular franchises, it’s no surprise that they did well. Splatoon 3, in particular, sold several million copies in Japan within three days of launch. The above ranking is particularly impressive since Nintendo doesn’t include digital sales in its rankings.

September 2022 NPD: 20 best-selling games of 2022 so far

RankLast
Month
Rank
All PlatformsPublisher
11Elden RingBandai Namco Entertainment
22LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker SagaWarner Bros. Interactive
35Madden NFL 23Electronic Arts
43Pokémon Legends: Arceus*Nintendo
54Horizon II: Forbidden WestSony (Corp)
66MLB: The Show 22^Multiple Video Game Manufacturers
77Call of Duty: VanguardActivision Blizzard (Corp)
88Gran Turismo 7Sony (Corp)
99Kirby and the Forgotten Land*Nintendo
1010Mario Kart 8*Nintendo
11NEWFIFA 23Electronic Arts
1211MinecraftMultiple Video Game Manufacturers
1313Nintendo Switch Sports*Nintendo
1412Madden NFL 22Electronic Arts
1521Saints Row (2022)Plaion
1614FIFA 22Electronic Arts
1716Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*Nintendo
1815Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles MoralesSony (Corp)
1918Animal Crossing: New Horizons*Nintendo
2017Monster Hunter: RiseCapcom USA
*Digital sales not included
^Xbox & Switch digital sales not included

September 2022 NPD: Top 10 best-selling games of the last 12 months

RankLast
Month
Rank
All PlatformsPublisher
11Elden RingBandai Namco Entertainment
22Call of Duty: VanguardActivision Blizzard (Corp)
34LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker SagaWarner Bros. Interactive
45Pokémon: Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl*Nintendo
56Battlefield 2042Electronic Arts
613Madden NFL 23Electronic Arts
77Far Cry 6Ubisoft
83Madden NFL 22Electronic Arts
99Pokémon Legends: Arceus*Nintendo
1010Horizon II: Forbidden WestSony (Corp)
*Digital sales not included

September 2022 NPD: Top 10 best-selling Nintendo-platform games in the U.S.

RankLast
Month
Rank
Nintendo PlatformsPublisher
1NEWSplatoon 3*Nintendo
2NEWTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga CollectionKonami Digital Ent.
31Mario Kart 8*Nintendo
43Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*Nintendo
54Kirby and the Forgotten Land*Nintendo
66Animal Crossing: New Horizons*Nintendo
77Nintendo Switch Sports*Nintendo
85Pokémon Legends: Arceus*Nintendo
99The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*Nintendo
10NEWJoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star BattleBandai Namco Entertainment
*Digital sales not included

September 2022 NPD: Top 10 best-selling PlayStation-platform games in the U.S.

RankLast
Month
Rank
PlayStation PlatformsPublisher
1NEWFIFA 23Electronics Arts
21Madden NFL 23Electronics Arts
3NEWNBA 2K23*Take-Two Interactive (Corp)
4NEWThe Last of Us: Part 1Sony (Corp)
52Saints Row (2022)Plaion
6NEWTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga CollectionKonami Digital Ent.
76Elden RingBandai Namco Entertainment
83Horizon II: Forbidden WestSony (Corp)
9NEWJoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star BattleBandai Namco Entertainment
105Gran Turismo 7Sony (Corp)
*Digital sales not included

September 2022 NPD: Top 10 best-selling Xbox-platform games in the U.S.

RankLast
Month
Rank
Xbox PlatformsPublisher
11Madden NFL 23Electronics Arts
2NEWFIFA 23Electronics Arts
3NEWNBA 2K23*Take-Two Interactive (Corp)
42Saints Row (2022)Plaion
54Elden RingBandai Namco Entertainment
6NEWJoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star BattleBandai Namco Entertainment
7NEWTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga CollectionKonami Digital Ent.
87Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold WarActivision Blizzard (Corp)
912Assassin’s Creed: ValhallaUbisoft
106Call of Duty: VanguardActivision Blizzard (Corp)
*Digital sales not included

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