The latest NPD data has been released. It’s a big one this time, as the usual monthly sales data comes with the end-of-year data. It is nothing but good news for Nintendo. According to VentureBeat, “December was a big month for Nintendo. Seven of the top 20 games are exclusive to Nintendo systems, which is significantly more than any other publisher. Every Nintendo game is benefiting from the Switch’s success. Mario Kart 8, for example, finished 2018 as the second best-selling racer ever behind only Mario Kart Wii”. Believe it or not, “Nintendo generated more revenue than any other game publisher for the first time since 2009. That doesn’t include in-game spending, though”.
Meanwhile, one Nintendo game in particular that debuted in December sales results did very well. In fact, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the top-selling game for December 2018 and the 5th best-selling game for all of 2018. According to VentureBeat, “Nintendo’s games do not include digital sales on this chart. Call of Duty, Red Dead, and Spider-Man all do — at least on consoles”. Because of this, Smash Ultimate may have charted even higher.
But that’s not all. According to NPD analyst Mat Piscatella, “packaged software launch month dollar sales of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate exceeded those of the previous best in franchise history, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, by over 70 percent. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate set a new launch-month dollar sales record for a platform exclusive in Video Game history. [It exceeded] the launch month dollar sales of 2010’s Halo: Reach”. Here’s the sales data:
The best-selling games of 2018 in the U.S.
1. Red Dead Redemption 2
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
3. NBA 2K19
4. Madden NFL 19
5. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
6. Marvel’s Spider-Man
7. Far Cry 5
8. God of War 2018
9. Monster Hunter: World
10. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
11. Grand Theft Auto V
12. Mario Kart 8*
13. FIFA 19**
14. Battlefield V**
15. Super Mario Odyssey*
16. Call of Duty: WWII**
17. Dragon Ball: FighterZ
18. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
19. Super Mario Party*
20. Pokemon: Lets Go Pikachu*
*Does not include digital sales
**Does not include PC digital sales
The best-selling games of December 2018 in the U.S.
1. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4**
3. Red Dead Redemption II
4. Battlefield V**
5. NBA 2K19
6. Mario Kart 8*
7. Madden NFL 19**
8. Super Mario Party*
9. Pokemon: Lets Go Pikachu*
10. Marvel’s Spider-Man
11. Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
12. Pokemon: Lets Go Eevee*
13. Super Mario Odyssey*
14. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
15. Just Cause 4
16. FIFA 19
17. Grand Theft Auto V
18. Minecraft
19. Spyro Reignited Trilogy**
20. Fallout 76*
*Does not include digital sales
**Does not include PC digital sales
Top 10 Nintendo Switch (no digital) (December 2018)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Mario Kart 8
- Super Mario Party
- Pokemon: Lets Go Pikachu
- Pokemon: Lets Go Eevee
- Super Mario Odyssey
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Splatoon 2
- Minecraft
- Just Dance 2019
Top 10 Nintendo 3DS (no digital) (December 2018)
- Luigi’s Mansion
- Mario Kart 7
- Pokemon: Ultra Moon
- Pokemon: Ultra Sun
- Super Smash Bros.
- Super Mario 3D Land
- Minecraft
- Detective Pikachu
- Mario Party: The Top 100
- New Super Mario Bros. 2
Top 10 Nintendo 3DS (no digital) (2018)
- Pokemon: Ultra Moon
- Pokemon: Ultra Sun
- Mario Mart 7
- Super Smash Bros.
- Detective Pikachu
- Super Mario 3D Land
- Minecraft
- Luigi’s Mansion
- Mario Party: The Top 100
- Super Mario Maker
Top 10 Nintendo Switch (no digital) (2018)
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Mario Kart 8
- Super Mario Odyssey
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Party
- Pokemon: Lets Go Pikachu
- Pokemon: Lets Go Eevee
- Splatoon 2
- Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
- Kirby Star Allies
Out for just a single month (and only on one system) & it’s #5 on the best selling games list of 2018. Super Smash Bros or not, that’s amazing.
#5, *WITHOUT* counting digital sales. The industry just got dunked on.
Shame. I would have liked to know if it’d be even higher on this list.
Yeah. It looks like Red Dead Redemption 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 surprisingly got more votes. It’s still a year. We don’t know how it will go for the next years. I bet some 2019 games will dethrone these titan games.
Also impressive is the continued performance of Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild.
Even though BotW isn’t a masterpiece & still has it’s own flaws, definitely high up there as one of the better Zelda games.
Didn’t get far in Odyssey to have an opinion on that, yet.
That’s an amazing achievement for Nintendo and switch. So happy they managed to turn the tables after the dismal performance of the Wii U.
I feel the Let’s Go games should be counted as one…. and if they were I wonder where they’d fall on all these charts. Smash did amazing but Lets Go did pretty darn good too it seems. Also nice to see games released 2 years ago still making waves. Good news all around for the big N.
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Is there a reason Nintendo doesn’t include digital sales?
Good question. I don’t think they’ve ever said why they don’t.
This is just an idea, but I wonder if they are vague on purpose for investors. They don’t include the digital sales so that when the do really good, but not the best, you always have a backup of, “well, if they included digital it would have been the best”
But then again they may tell investors all of the sales data and not leave some out. I wish we could know that info.