Top Ten Best-Selling Games in the US for February 2016

What games sold the best in February 2016 at retail in the United States? Now we know, as the NPD Group today released its sales report for the month, confirming that Far Cry Primal came out on top. It pushes Call of Duty: Black Ops III to the No. 2 spot, marking the first time since its launch in November that it was not the best-selling game.

Rounding out the top five were Grand Theft Auto V, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4, and NBA 2K16. The full Top 10 sales chart for February 2016 is available at the bottom of this post.

In a statement, NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan said Primal enjoyed stronger sales than Far Cry 4 did in 2014 when adjusted for the number of days the games were available within their respective release months. Importantly, however, the NPD Group only tracks physical sales--and digital is on the rise.

Callahan also noted that, had all of Fire Emblem Fates versions been counted (Birthright, Conquest, and the special edition), the game overall would have ranked third for new software sales.

"The combined first month sales of Fire Emblem Fates would more than triple the first month sales of the next-highest game within the franchise, Fire Emblem: Awakening," he explained.

In its own statement, Nintendo revealed that both versions of Fire Emblem Fates sold nearly 400,000 copies combined (physical and digital), outpacing the previous series' record-holder, Fire Emblem: Awakening. That number should continue to rise with Fire Emblem Fates: Revelation, which releases today.

Overall software sales for the month declined 11 percent to $309.5 million. This downturn was attributed in part to a "sharp recline" in Xbox 360/PS3 generation game sales.

"Despite the success of some February 2016 new launches relative to their predecessors, collectively, new launches sold 4 percent less dollars and 12 percent fewer units than those of February 2015," Callahan said.

"New physical software trends suffered due to a sharp decline in seventh generation consoles of 52 percent despite the 14 percent or $28 million growth in eighth generation software," he added. "Portable software also had a drop of 30 percent due to a poor comparison to the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D, which coincided with the launch of the new 3DS."

On the hardware side, Sony's PlayStation 4 came out on top, though overall new sales across the industry declined.

Best-Selling Physical Games in US for February 2016:

The order of the platforms in parentheses corresponds to sales

1. Far Cry Primal (PS4, Xbox One)
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops III (Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
3. Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PC)
4. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 (PS4, Xbox One)
5. NBA 2K16 (PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3)
6. Lego Marvel Avengers (PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, PS3, 3DS, PlayStation Vita)
7. Street Fighter V (PS4)
8. Minecraft (Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS4, PS3)
9. Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright (3DS)
10. Fallout 4 (PS4, Xbox One, PC)