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May’s US game sales figures are here, and shambling to the top of the charts is State of Decay 2. The original title was a big Steam hit, so Microsoft took something of a chance by launching this sequel exclusively on Xbox and its own PC store. That seems to have paid off with the game ranked No.1 for the month.
And that success is despite it being available day-and-date on Xbox Game Pass, which must have had some impact on sales. Keeping in mind that the NPD charts integrate both physical and digital data. And that these are ranked by value, rather than units, as with the fledgling pan-European GSD charts.
That makes it far easier to judge what’s pulling in the money, where digital sales can hugely skew unit figures with low prices.
Sony takes the next two spots with God of War and Detroit: Become Human in second and third places respectively. That means God Of War has continued to sell strongly, with its launch coming in April. Detroit: Become Human launched on the 25th of May, though its launch period couldn’t lift above its stablemate, or State of Decay 2, which came out just three days earlier.
Far Cry 5 continues to perform, holding the 4th spot in its 3rd month in these charts. While Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze benefited from practically a full month of sales to slide into 5th spot, noting as always that’s physical data only, as Nintendo doesn’t release its digital sales figures. In what will become an increasing problem for chart watchers as their market increases as Switch continues to grow.
Year to date Far Cry 5 still tops the charts, with God of War and Monster Hunter: World behind it. With the software market as a whole up by seven per cent year-on-year and 15 per cent when hardware and accessories are factored in.
Sales for May, though, are down by four per cent year-on-year, from $285m (£214m) to $274m (£206m), though the market as a whole is up 13 per cent up thanks to a 26 per cent rise in hardware sales compared to last May, up from $147m (£110m) to $186m (£140m).
May 2018 Top 10 games
(physical and full game digital ranked on dollar sales, *digital sales not included)
1: State of Decay 2 – Microsoft (Corp)
2: God of War 2018 – Sony (Corp)
3: Detroit: Become Human – Sony (Corp)
4: Far Cry 5 – Ubisoft
5: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze* – Nintendo
6: Grand Theft Auto V – Take 2 Interactive
7: Hyrule Warriors Definitive Ed* – Nintendo
8: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege – Ubisoft
9: Mario Kart 8* – Nintendo
10: NBA 2K18 – Take 2 Interactive
4-Week Reporting Period: 5/6/2018 through 6/2/2018
