The NPD results for the month of June 2013, saw Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us topping all else on the software charts, and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, though realizing a drop of 45 percent compared to the same time last year, topped the hardware side of things with 140,000 units sold.
Full results:
According to the NPD, “The Last of Us was the top selling game at retail in the month of June. To put this in context, it had the second highest first-month sales of a PS3 first-party game, after God of War 3 in March 2010. The Last of Us was also the third highest game to launch during the month of June since NPD began tracking sales in 1995.”
The Nintendo 3DS saw a great month, too, with Animal Crossing aiding the platform in selling big numbers. “To quote Nintendo during E3, ‘software sells hardware’,” the NPD noted, “which is evident in this month’s 3DS results. Strong double-digit increases in the 3DS hardware sales were coupled with triple-digit digit increases in software for June sales. 3DS software sales momentum is building due to a steady flow of content over the past few months, leading to positive year-to-date sales results.”
The NPD also noted that June was the “first time since this console generation began that the top 3 games that sold through retail were first-party platform exclusives – each from a different first party; in this case, The Last of Us, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, and Minecraft.”
As for accessories, while increased point and subscription card sales offset declines, the overall category declined this June due to a drop in the top 3 accessory types: Gamepads, Headsets/Headphones, and ‘All Other’ Accessories.
Software Chart:
1. The Last Of Us (PS3)** Sony (Corp)
2. Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS) Nintendo
3. Minecraft (360) Microsoft (Corp)
4. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (360, PS3, PC, NWU)** Activision Blizzard (Corp)
5. NBA 2K13 (360, PS3, WII, NWU, PSP, PC)** Take 2 Interactive (Corp)
6. Injustice: Gods Among Us (360, PS3, NWU)** Warner Bros. Interactive
7. Donkey Kong Country Returns (3DS, WII) Nintendo
8. Deadpool (360, PS3) Activision Blizzard (Corp)
9. Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)** Electronic Arts
10. Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS) Nintendo
Microsoft’s Response:
“Xbox One, which will launch this fall, has already seen impressive pre-order sales as consumers have signed up to be the first to receive the new system,” Microsoft said last night. ”In fact, Xbox One pre-orders are trending ahead of Xbox 360 pre-orders during the same time period and have already sold out at most major US retailers.”
Nintendo’s Response:
Nintendo 3DS sold nearly 225,000 units of hardware in June and finished as the best-selling video game system in the U.S. for the second consecutive month. A strong launch for Animal Crossing: New Leaf and the continued strength of Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon helped sales of Nintendo 3DS hardware and software increase by more than 40 percent and nearly 105 percent, respectively, over the same time last year.
Highlights for the month include:
Through the first six months of 2013, Nintendo has sold nearly 3.6 million combined physical and digital units of first-party Nintendo 3DS software, an increase of more than 85 percent over the same time frame last year.
Animal Crossing: New Leaf sold more than 505,000 combined physical and digital units in June. More than 20 percent of these sales were through the Nintendo eShop, the second-highest ratio behind only Fire Emblem Awakening. Nintendo’s internal trackers show that sales of the game continue to be strong in July as well, indicating that Animal Crossing: New Leaf is poised to be one of the biggest games of the summer.
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D sold more than 108,000 combined units in its second month and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon added nearly 115,000 combined units in its fourth month on the market, bringing its lifetime total to more than 750,000 combined units.
Nintendo had three of the top five best-selling software SKUs for the month.
Sony don’t usually issue detailed responses to the NPD results, however it’s been confirmed that The Last of Us sold about 700,000 to 1,000,000 million units in the month of June – and it released late that month – on the 23rd.
Via the NPD’s David Riley.