The former NPD Group (now named “Circana”) has released its full North American sales data for February, and it seems like it was a pretty solid month for the industry. Players spent $4.7 billion on games, additional content, and hardware in February, up 2 percent year-on-year. Hardware was a weak spot, down 30 percent year-on-year, with PS5 #1 in terms of unit and dollar sales, Switch #2 in terms of unit sales, and Xbox Series X/S #2 in terms of dollar sales.
On the software front, the big story was the surprise success of Helldivers 2, which was the #1 game of the month, delivering the 7th-best launch month sales of any game Sony has ever published. Interestingly, 60 percent of those sales came from PC rather than PS5. Somewhat unexpectedly, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth was bumped to #2 – granted, it came out on February 29, but Circana’s data actually includes the couple days of March as well. Other new additions include Skull and Bones at #4 and Mario vs. Donkey Kong at #11.
Here are February’s top 20 premium games according to Circana:
1 – Helldivers 2
2 – Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
3 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
4 – Skull and Bones
5 – Tekken 8
6 – Madden NFL 24
7 – Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
8 – Final Fantasy VII Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack
9 – Persona 3 Reload
10 – Hogwarts Legacy
11 – Mario vs. Donkey Kong
12 – EA Sports FC 24
13 – Spider-Man 2
14 – Elden Ring
15 – Super Mario Bros. Wonder
16 – Minecraft
17 – Mario Kart 8
18 – Mortal Kombat 1
19 – Rainbow Six Siege
20 – Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
And here are the top games of 2024 to date:
1 – Helldivers 2
2 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
3 – Tekken 8
4 – Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
5 – Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
6 – Madden NFL 24
7 – Persona 3 Reload
8 – Hogwarts Legacy
9 – Skull and Bones
10 – EA Sports FC 24
What are your thoughts on the February NPD/Circana charts? Any big surprises or things you’re happy to see?