The NPD Group has come out with hardware and software sales for the month of June. The numbers are surprisingly better compared to the same period last year with total sales for both hardware and physical titles up by 18 percent. The company says that software sales were particularly impressive with an increase of 21 percent compared to the same period in 2014.
“This is the fourth month of year-over-year increases so far in 2015 for software. Through the first half of the year, software is up 3 percent. With a strong lineup of games for the remainder of the year, there is the potential for a positive growth in the second half of the year as well,” wrote NPD analyst Liam Callahan.
The success of software has been largely attributed to the impressive debut of Batman: Arkham Knight, making it the second best-selling release of the year as Mortal Kombat X still leads the way.
“Sales of Arkham Knight slightly exceeded October 2011 sales of Batman: Arkham City, which is remarkable considering the difference in hardware install bases,” said Callahan.
Meanwhile, Sony aced Microsoft this time around with strong PS4 sales. The company did mention earlier that its Batman bundle did push the overall sales of PS4, however despite this, more PS4 copies of the game were sold than the Xbox One. Notably the list published by NPD does not include bundled games. Otherwise, Arkham Knight would have been the best-selling game for 2015, says an analyst at NPD.
The Elder’s Scroll Online bagged the second spot followed by Lego: Jurassic World and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. While underdog Nintendo saw its Splatoon again at the number five spot, making it the lone Nintendo title in the top 10. And then we have our usual suspects including Minecraft, Grand Theft Auto V, NBA 2K15 along with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, who’ve been in the top ten for quite a while now.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment was the leading publisher for the month of June, with four titles making the top 10 spot, which is a rather impressive feat. “With hits like Batman: Arkham Knight, The Witcher 3, Mortal Kombat X, and Dying Light, Warner Bros. Interactive is the top corporate publisher so far in 2015, with dollar sales growing 217 percent versus the first half of 2014,” added Callahan.
Meanwhile, overall hardware sales grew by 8 percent, with latest gen consoles like PS4 and Xbox One leading the race with a 15 percent growth over the same period last year. The report also mentions that bundled consoles made up 82 percent of sales in this period, which was a meager 35 percent last June.
