What were the Top 20 best selling games in May 2023 in the United States?
The newest Circana (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 most surprising isn’t only that while Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was only released on Switch for just over two weeks of May 2023, but it’s already almost the best-selling game of 2023!! Well done, you! 😀
Top 20 best selling games of May 2023
| Rank | Last Month Rank | Title | Publisher |
| 1 | NEW | The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom* | Nintendo |
| 2 | 6 | Hogwarts Legacy | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| 3 | 1 | Star Wars: Jedi: Survivor | Electronic Arts |
| 4 | 2 | Dead Island 2 | Plaion |
| 5 | 5 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 6 | 3 | MLB: The Show 23^ | Multiple Video Game Manufacturers |
| 7 | 9 | FIFA 23 | Electronic Arts |
| 8 | 10 | Mario Kart 8* | Nintendo |
| 9 | 2 | Resident Evil 4 (2023) | Capcom USA |
| 10 | 49 | Far Cry 6 | Ubisoft |
| 11 | 12 | Elden Ring | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| 12 | 13 | Minecraft | Multiple Video Game Manufacturers |
| 13 | 28 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* | Nintendo |
| 14 | 23 | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* | Nintendo |
| 15 | 19 | Madden NFL 23 | Electronic Arts |
| 16 | 21 | God of War: Ragnarok | Sony (Corp) |
| 17 | 16 | New Super Mario Bros.* | Nintendo |
| 18 | 18 | Pokémon: Scarlet/Violet* | Nintendo |
| 19 | 30 | LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| 20 | 20 | Super Mario 3D World* | Nintendo |
*Digital sales not included. ^Xbox & Switch digital sales not included.
Here’s the Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom TV commercial…
Top 20 best selling games of 2023 so far
| Rank | Last Month Rank | Title | Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | Hogwarts Legacy | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| 2 | NEW | The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom* | Nintendo |
| 3 | 2 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022) | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 4 | 4 | Star Wars Jedi: Survivor | Electronic Arts |
| 5 | 3 | Resident Evil 4 (2023) | Capcom USA |
| 6 | 5 | MLB: The Show 23^ | Multiple Video Game Manufacturers |
| 7 | 6 | Dead Island 2 | Plaion |
| 8 | 8 | FIFA 23 | Electronic Arts |
| 9 | 7 | Dead Space (2023) | Electronic Arts |
| 10 | 9 | Madden NFL 23 | Electronic Arts |
| 11 | 10 | Elden Ring | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| 12 | 11 | The Last of Us: Part 1 | Sony (Corp) |
| 13 | 13 | Mario Kart 8* | Nintendo |
| 14 | 12 | God of War: Ragnarök | Sony (Corp) |
| 15 | 14 | Minecraft | Multiple Video Game Manufacturers |
| 16 | 15 | Pokémon: Scarlet/Violet* | Nintendo |
| 17 | 16 | Fire Emblem Engage* | Nintendo |
| 18 | 18 | Sonic Frontiers | Sega |
| 19 | 17 | Forspoken | Square Enix Inc (Corp) |
| 20 | 20 | NBA 2K23* | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
*Digital sales not included. ^Xbox & Switch digital sales not included.
Here’s the Hogwarts Legacy TV launch commercial…
Video Game System Sales in May 2023:
To quote NPD analyst Mat Piscatella…
“Spending on video game content grew 9% in May when compared to a year ago, reaching $3.6 billion,” said Mat Piscatella, Circana’s executive producer for games reports. “Console full game and add-on content spending increased 58% when compared to May 2022, offsetting declines across Mobile and PC. New physical video game software spending reached its highest May total since May 2014.”
“PlayStation 5 continues to lead the 2023 hardware market across both units and dollars,” added Piscatella. “Year-to-date content spending has declined 2% when compared to the same period in 2022.” He also added that, while the black PlayStation DualSense controller is the most popular accessory of the year so far, Tears of the Kingdom Series 1 Amiibo Character Pack led accessory unit sales in May.
Credits: Resetera
Are the Top 20 games what you expected?