The United States video game software and hardware sales tracking firm the NPD Group has confirmed that the Nintendo Switch was the best-selling system during the month of March and Sony’s PlayStation 5 was the fastest-selling system. The big new game during the month of March was Monster Hunter Rise which made its debut on the Nintendo Switch system at No.2. Here’s the details from Games Beat.
Monster Hunter: Rise
In terms of new games, Monster Hunter: Rise was the big one for the month. It outsold everything except for Call of Duty.
“Monster Hunter: Rise debuted as March’s second best-seller, while also ranking first on Switch,” said Piscatella. “With just one month on the market, lifetime dollar sales of Monster Hunter: Rise rank second among all Monster Hunter franchise releases, trailing only Monster Hunter: World.”
| Rank | Last Month Rank | March 2021 Top 20 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital from the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation, STEAM and Xbox platforms for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | 2 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 2 | NEW | Monster Hunter: Rise | Capcom USA |
| 3 | NEW | Outriders | Square Enix Inc (Corp) |
| 4 | 1 | Super Mario 3D World* | Nintendo |
| 5 | 4 | Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales | Sony (Corp) |
| 6 | 9 | Mario Kart 8* | Nintendo |
| 7 | 7 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Ubisoft |
| 8 | 10 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons* | Nintendo |
| 9 | 16 | Super Mario 3D All-Stars* | Nintendo |
| 10 | 8 | Minecraft | Multiple Video Game Manufacturers |
| 11 | 11 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 12 | 14 | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* | Nintendo |
| 13 | 19 | Pokemon: Sword/Shield* | Nintendo |
| 14 | 15 | Mortal Kombat 11 | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| 15 | 65 | Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 16 | 20 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* | Nintendo |
| 17 | 5 | Madden NFL 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 18 | 13 | NBA 2K21* | Take-Two Interactive |
| 19 | 22 | Super Mario Party* | Nintendo |
| 20 | 12 | FIFA 21 | Electronic Arts |
| * Digital sales not included |
What does it even mean to be the “fastest selling” outside of a systems launch?
It means that the Switch moved more physical units, but the PS5 made more money.
That is not at all what it means. Neither is a measure of dollars earned. The PS5 is supply constrained. They sold quickly, then ran out of stock on shelves.