Splatoon 2 Tops Best-Selling Games List In The US For July 2017

The NPD Group today released US video game sales data for July 2017, covering both games and hardware. Nintendo's Switch shooter Splatoon 2 was the best-selling game of the month, with Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, Grand Theft Auto V, Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild making up the Top 5.

Year-to-date, Ghost Recon: Wildlands remains the best-selling game of 2017, with Ubisoft still the top-selling publisher for the year.

In total, game sales for July 2017 amounted to $277 million, which is up 17 percent year-over-year. Year-to-date, dollar sales came to $2.7 billion, up less than 1 percent.

Dollar sales of video game software and PC games software combined to reach $277 million in July 2017, up 17 percent versus year ago. Year to date, dollar sales are up less than 1 percent compared to year ago at $2.7 billion.

With Splatoon 2 (No. 1), Breath of the Wild (No. 5), and Mario Kart 8 (No. 7), Nintendo had three of the month's top seven best-selling games on the all-platforms chart.

NPD analyst Mat Piscatella also mentioned in the report that RPGs are "experiencing a market resurgence."

"Driven by titles such as (in alphabetical order) Horizon: Zero Dawn, Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue, Mass Effect: Andromeda, Nier: Automata, Nioh, and Persona 5, year-to-date dollar sales of RPGs has grown more than 50 percent when compared to the same period a year ago," Piscatella said.

Also of note is that three Call of Duty games made the Top 20 chart, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered, Black Ops III, and Infinite Warfare. "Over the 12-month period ending July 2017, Call of Duty is the market's best-selling video game franchise and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare the best-selling game," Piscatella said.

In terms of hardware sales, the Nintendo Switch was the top-selling platform of the month in the US. You can see our full report on US hardware sales here.

Across hardware and software, gaming revenue in the US for July 2017 came in at $588 million, up 19 percent year-over-year.