May charts: God of War remains at No.1, Nintendo continues to go from strength to strength

Despite a trio of strong games having launched last week, God of War wasn’t threatened in the monthly charts, and managed to keep its top spot in May. Sales for Sony Santa Monica’s hit were only down 55 per cent month-on-month, a very healthy drop.

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze re-entered the charts at No.4 thanks to its Switch release on May 4th. Month One sales for the title were up 19 per cent compared to launch sales of the Wii U version back in 2014. Further down the charts, Switch title Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition debuted at No.20, with sales down 54 per cent compared to the original Wii U game, which entered the monthly charts at No.17 back in 2014.

Between Donkey Kong, Hyrule Warriors and usual top sellers like Mario Kart, Super Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild, the market share for the Switch increased month-on-month, reaching 18.1 per cent in units, against 12.5 per cent in April. In terms of value, the Switch was 23.8 per cent of the market in May (against 14.8 per cent in April) overtaking the Xbox One and its 21.3 per cent. So despite selling fewer units, the Switch made more money than the Xbox One at retail – though admittedly Switch games just tend to be more expensive.

However, Sony remained the top publisher in May, with Nintendo being a very (very) close second.

Meanwhile, another PS4 exclusive, Detroit: Become Human, made it to No.5 despite only having been on shelves for two days when GfK closed its report on May 26th. Meanwhile, Xbox One exclusive State of Decay 2, having released on May 22nd, debuted at No.6.

Warner Bros’ Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 was back in the Top Ten in May, with sales surging 58 per cent, likely to have been boosted by the release of Avengers: Infinity War at cinemas on April 26th.

Closing the Top Ten was Bandai Namco’s Dark Souls Remastered, which released on PS4 and Xbox One on May 25th. Sales were down 83 per cent compared to Month One sales of 2016’s Dark Souls III. Launch sales for the remastered edition would probably have been a bit healthier if the Switch version hadn’t been delayed so it will be interesting to see how the Switch edition performs on its own when it releases this summer.

The last new entry in the May charts was Deep Silver’s Conan Exiles, which debuted at No.40.

Here’s the Top Ten for the period between April 29th and May 26th (data courtesy of Gfk/Ukie):