Marvel's Avengers Was September's Best-Selling Game In The US

NPD Group has revealed the US sales results for September 2020, which saw another month of growth for the gaming industry. Consumer spending across video game hardware, content, and accessories saw a 10% increase when compared to a year ago, with sales reaching $4.3 billion. Mobile spending, hardware, and accessories also saw growth within the time period.

The top-selling game of the month was Marvel's Avengers from publisher Square Enix and developer Crystal Dynamics. Launch month dollar sales of Marvel's Avengers were the second-highest for any superhero game in US history, right behind Marvel's Spider-Man.

Marvel's Avengers is so far the seventh-best-selling game of 2020, although it has experienced a significant drop-off in audience numbers since launch, which Square Enix is confident can be reversed with new patches and DLC.

Super Mario 3D All-Stars took the second spot and its launch-month physical dollar sales rank as the sixth-biggest for Nintendo in US history. The game currently trails behind Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Pokemon Stadium in physical launch month dollar sales.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 was September's fourth-best-selling game and went on to surpass the launch month dollar sales of any title in the history of the Tony Hawk's franchise, a record which had been held since 2004 by Tony Hawk's Underground 2.

Absent from the list is Take-Two Interactive's Mafia: Definitive Edition, which didn't have sale results listed by the NPD. The inclusion of digital sales data in the best-selling title charts is done at the discretion of the participating publisher according to the NPD, which Take-Two Interactive did not provide.

"We can confirm that Take-Two, like some of our industry peers, does not provide digital sales data to NPD for inclusion in their published industry reports," Take-Two said in a press statement. "At our discretion, we periodically share our internal sales data with outside research firms for inclusion in their media reports. That said, we do intend to provide an update on our titles' performance when we report our Q2 FY21 results on November 5th."

Take-Two Interactive's NBA 2K21 debuted in fifth place, a steep drop from last year when NBA 2K20 claimed the top spot on the charts. Other than a handful of occasions when Marvel's Spider-Man and Destiny 2 dethroned the annual basketball game in 2018 and 2017 respectively, the NBA series usually grabs the number one spot in the September top ten every year.

Also making a successful debut was Paradox Interactive's Crusader Kings 3, which earned the seventh spot in the top ten. After just a month of sales, the latest entry in that franchise is the best-selling release in the series and it also experienced the highest launch month dollar sales of any title published by Paradox Interactive.

You can see the full list below.

September 2020 NPD Software Sales

1. Marvel's Avengers
2. Super Mario 3D All-Stars
3. Madden NFL 21
4. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2
5. NBA 2K21
6. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
7. Crusader Kings III
8. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
9. Star Wars: Squadrons
10. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe
11. Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time
12. Ghost of Tsushima
13. Ring Fit Adventure
14. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
15. UFC 4
16. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
17. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
18. Super Mario Odyssey
19. Mortal Kombat 11
20. Super Mario Party

Best Selling Games Year-to-Date

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
3. The Last of Us: Part II
4. Madden NFL 21
5. Ghost of Tsushima
6. Final Fantasy VII: Remake
7. Marvel's Avengers
8. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
9. MLB: The Show 20
10. Super Mario 3D All-Stars

Video game hardware and accessories also saw huge gains, with video game hardware in particular accounting for $277 million in sales. Compared to a year ago, that's an increase of 15%. The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console of the month and year-to-date spending on hardware has increased 22% when compared to a year ago, to $2.3 billion.

The Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller was the best-selling accessory of September, while gamepads and headset spending all reached new US sales records and led to the market recording $191 million in spending on these products, a 30% increase when compared to a year ago.