January saw the release of two of the year’s most anticipated titles, Kingdom Hearts III and Capcom’s Resident Evil 2 remake, and both unsurprisingly had strong debuts in the US. According to the NPD Group’s latest sales report, the two were the best-selling games in the country last month, with New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe following at third.
While the NPD Group doesn’t disclose sales numbers, it notes that Kingdom Hearts 3 was the US’s best-selling game for January. Furthermore, the title’s total launch month dollar sales were two-and-a-half times higher than the series’ previous best, Kingdom Hearts II.
Resident Evil 2 took the runner-up spot last month and similarly had 2.8 times higher dollar sales than the original, which released on PS One back in 1998. New Super Mario Bros. Deluxe, meanwhile, generated 30% higher launch month dollar sales than the original Wii U title did when it released alongside the system in 2012.
While Kingdom Hearts may have been the best-selling game, the Nintendo Switch was the US’s best-selling console last month in both units and dollars. Moreover, NPD says Switch was the only platform to grow year-on-year, and the Switch Pro Controller was the best-selling accessory last month.
Despite these strong sales, NPD reports that overall video game spending last month was down 19% compared to January 2018. That’s not all bad news, however, as the group notes that January 2019 still had "the second highest market total achieved in a January month since the $917 million reached in January 2013."
Source: GameSpot