NPD charts: God of War is the biggest PlayStation exclusive launch ever

April was a very good month for Sony in the US, boosted by God of War’s performance. The Sony Santa Monica Studios title charted at No.1 and had record sales, becoming the highest ever launch in value for a PlayStation exclusive in the country, according to NPD charts.

This impacted hardware sales as well, with the PS4 family of consoles being the best-selling platform in April, as it has been since the beginning of the year. "PlayStation 4 generated the highest April unit sales for a console since Nintendo Wii in April 2009, and the highest April dollar sales for a console since Nintendo Wii in April 2008,” NPD’s VG industry analyst Mat Piscatella said. In terms of specific hardware items, the PS4 Pro 1TB Limited Edition God of War bundle was the best-selling item in value, though the Switch 32GB with Neon Red/Blue Joy Con was the best-selling in terms of units.

PS4 software sales overall broke records as well, with sales for the platform being at an “all-time April high for any platform since tracking began in 1995,” Piscatella added. Without surprise, Sony charted at No.1 in the publisher listings in April.

Meanwhile, Far Cry 5, having debuted at No.1 in March, had to settle for No.2 in April. However, it remains the top seller of the year so far, and Ubisoft still is “the top revenue generating publisher year to date,” Piscatella said.

Further down the charts, Nintendo Labo debuted at No.4 with its Variety Kit and at No.21 with its Robot Kit.

Overall, US sales were up 18 per cent year-on-year, reaching $823m (£616m).

Here’s the Top Ten for April 2018 in the US, in value (data courtesy of the NPD Group):