What were the Top 20 best selling games in July 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 North America. Including both retail and most digital sales & revenue numbers.
What’s once again most surprising is that compared to one year ago — in the center of the covid lock-downs when everyone was at home playing games — game sales have actually gone up these past months compared to the same period last year! No one was expecting the video games industry to do [10%] better this year. Amazing. 😀
Top 20 best selling games of July 2021
- The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD* (NEW)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War
- Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin (NEW)
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe*
- Minecraft
- Mario Golf: Super Rush*
- MLB: The Show 21**
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2
- Super Mario 3D World*
- Mortal Kombat 11
- NEO: The World Ends with You (NEW)
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
- Pokemon Sword and Shield*
- Resident Evil: Village
- Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
* No digital sales included.
** No Xbox digital sales included.
Last month’s high-ranking Scarlet Nexus, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition & Sea of Thieves have disappeared off the list.
Here’s the The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD TV commercial…
Top 10 best selling games of 2021 so far
- Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War
- MLB: The Show 21**
- Resident Evil: Village
- Super Mario 3D World*
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Monster Hunter: Rise
- Mario Kart 8*
- Minecraft
- Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
Outriders has disappeared off the top 10 list, with Animal Crossing taking its place. MLB overtook RE for the #2 spot.
Video Game System Sales in July 2021:
July 2021 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories increased 10% when compared to a year ago, reaching a July record $4.6B. Year-to-date spending totaled $33.5B, a 14% increase when compared to the same period in 2020.
Hardware was one of the primary drivers of July gains, as dollar sales of console and portable video game systems were 98% higher than in July 2020. Sales of Content increased by $232M, as Mobile, Subscription and Post-Launch Content spend grew vs year ago.
July video game hardware dollar sales grew 98% when compared to July 2020, to $323 million. This is the highest total achieved in a July month since 2008 ($447M), and the third highest July month total in history. Year-to-date hardware spending has increased 50% when compared to the same period in 2020, reaching $2.7 billion.
PlayStation 5 led the hardware market in dollar sales for the month of July, while Nintendo Switch once again led in unit sales.
Nintendo Switch is the best-selling video game hardware year-to-date in both unit and dollar sales.
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:
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD was the best-selling game of July 2021. It is the first Nintendo published title to lead the monthly best-sellers chart since the launch of Super Mario 3D world in the February 2021 tracking month.
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin debuted as the third best-selling game of July 2021. Launch month sales of Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin more than tripled the lifetime sales of Monster Hunter Stories, originally released on Nintendo 3DS in 2017.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War ranked as the 2nd best-selling game of the month of July, and remains the best-selling game of 2021 year-to-date. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War was the best-selling game of the month on both the PlayStation and Xbox platforms.
MLB The Show 21 surpassed Resident Evil: Village to become the 2nd best-selling game of 2021. Year-to-date sales of MLB The Show 21 are the highest in franchise history.
About video game accessories he said:
July 2021 spending on video game accessories increased 11% when compared to a year ago, reaching $189 million. Year-to-date accessory sales totaled $1.4 billion, an increase of 13% when compared to the same period in 2020.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD Edition Joy-Con was the best-selling accessory of July in dollar sales. The PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller White remains the best-selling accessory year-to-date.
Credits: Resetera
Are the Top 20 games what you expected?