What were the Top 20 best selling games in April 2021 in the United States?
The newest NPD numbers are in, and so are the top lists of the highest selling game systems and games (by revenue) for last month in America. Including both retail and most digital sales & revenue numbers.
Here is the full Top 20 games of April 2021:
- MLB: The Show 21** (NEW)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War
- New Pokemon Snap* (NEW)
- Outriders
- NieR: Replicant (NEW)
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Monster Hunter: Rise
- Returnal (NEW)
- It Takes Two
- Mario Kart 8*
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Super Mario 3D World*
- Minecraft
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars*
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
- Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
- Pokemon: Sword and Shield*
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
* No digital sales included.
** No Xbox digital sales included.
Considering the majority of game sales are digital nowadays, even Nintendo has actually sold 50% more of New Pokemon Snap, likely making it the real #1 or #2 this month. Strange MLB: The Show 21 sold so well, despite it being the worst-reviewed game in the series in five years, but with it being free on Xbox Game Pass it makes sense.
Here’s the MLB: The Show 21 TV commercial…
The Best-selling Games of 2021 so far:
- Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War
- Super Mario 3D World*
- MLB: The Show 21**
- Monster Hunter: Rise
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Outriders
- Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
- Mario Kart 8*
- Minecraft
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
Video Game System Sales in April 2021:
April 2021 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories totaled $4.6 billion, a decline of 2% when compared to a year ago. Year-to-date consumer spending reached $19.6 billion, 21% higher than the first four months of 2020.
Monthly sales are now comparable to year ago periods that were impacted by pandemic-driven consumer spending increases. April 2021 content sales boosted by mobile, subscription and post-launch content spending (DLC/MTX) on Console & PC.
April video game hardware dollar sales fell 30% when compared to April 2020, to $296 million. April 2021 hardware dollar sales were 84% higher than the total achieved in April 2019 ($160 million). Year-to-date hardware dollar sales gained 42% when compared to the similar period in 2020, at $1.7 billion.
Nintendo Switch was the best-selling hardware platform in both units and dollars during the month of April, as well as 2021 year to date.
Analysis of the rest of the sales numbers:
NPD tracks retail sales to get a good impression of last month’s best selling video games. Although it doesn’t by far track all digital sales, since April 2018 NPD tracks Steam (PC), Xbox Live, and PlayStation Network for these major third-party publishers: Activision-Blizzard, Capcom, Deep Silver, Electronic Arts, Square Enix, Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros.
To quote NPD analyst Mat Piscatella…
About the top video game sales he said:
MLB The Show 21 debuted as both the best-selling game of April 2021 as well as the 3rd best-selling game of 2021 year to date. Launch month dollar sales of MLB The Show 21 set a new franchise high.
MLB The Show 21 was the best-selling game of the month on PlayStation platforms, and ranked 2nd on Xbox (note that digital sales on Xbox platforms are not included in the rankings).
New Pokémon Snap was the 3rd best-selling game of April 2021 and was the month’s best-selling game on Nintendo platforms. Launch month physical sales of New Pokémon Snap more than doubled those of Pokémon Snap, which debuted in the July 1999 tracking month.
Mortal Kombat 11 placed among the top 10 best-sellers of the month for the first time since ranking 9th in July 2020. Mortal Kombat 11 is currently the 13th best-selling game of 2021 year to date.
It Takes Two climbed to 9th on the April 2021 best-sellers chart after placing 22nd in its March debut month. It Takes Two was the 3rd best-selling game of April on Xbox platforms while ranking 8th on PlayStation.
Credits: Resetera
Are the Top 20 games what you expected?