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[Draugoth]

Key Points:

• Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth currently ranks 14th across all Final Fantasy releases in lifetime dollar sales in the US market. Final Fantasy XV is 1st all-time, followed by Final Fantasy VII: Remake and the original Final Fantasy VII
• Helldivers II remains the best-selling premium game of 2024 year-to-date after placing 2nd in March. Helldivers II currently ranks 7th in lifetime US dollar sales for Sony published titles after just two months in market.
• The PlayStation Dual Sense Edge was the best-selling accessory in dollar sales during both March and the first quarter.
• PlayStation 5 led the hardware market in unit and dollar sales during both March and the first quarter. Nintendo Switch once again finished 2nd in unit sales across both time periods while Xbox Series ranked 2nd in dollars.
• February video game hardware spending fell 32% when compared to a year ago, to $391 million. PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and Switch spending each declined a minimum of 30% year-on-year. Hardware spending finished the first quarter down 24% versus the first quarter of 2023.

Rankings
Units: PS5 > NSW > XBS
Revenue: PS5 > XBS > NSW

State of the market​

Projected total US spending on video game hardware, content and accessories gained 4% in March 2024 vs YA, reaching $4.9B. Mobile content spending grew 15%, offseting a 32% drop in hardware. (Mobile source: Sensor Tower)

Mobile’s strong performance was supplemented by a 3% increase in Console Content spend, along with a 2% gain in the PC, Cloud and Non-Console VR Content segment. Mobile accounted for 89% of the total year-on-year growth in video game content spending during the month.

Hardware

February video game hardware spending fell 32% when compared to a year ago, to $391 million. PlayStation 5, Xbox Series and Switch spending each declined a minimum of 30% year-on-year. Hardware spending finished the first quarter down 24% versus the first quarter of 2023.

PlayStation 5 led the hardware market in unit and dollar sales during both March and the first quarter. Nintendo Switch once again finished 2nd in unit sales across both time periods while Xbox Series ranked 2nd in dollars.

Software

Dragon’s Dogma II debuted as the best-selling premium game of March and the 3rd best-selling game of 2024 YTD. With just one month in market, Dragon’s Dogma II has already surpassed the life-to-date tracked dollar sales of Dragon’s Dogma and Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen combined.

Helldivers II remains the best-selling premium game of 2024 year-to-date after placing 2nd in March. Helldivers II currently ranks 7th in lifetime US dollar sales for Sony published titles after just two months in market.

Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth remained the 4th best-selling game of 2024 year-to-date, despite falling 5 spots in the monthly rankings to 7th in March after placing 2nd in February. Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth currently ranks 14th across all Final Fantasy releases in lifetime dollar sales in the US market. Final Fantasy XV is 1st all-time, followed by Final Fantasy VII: Remake and the original Final Fantasy VII.

Mobile

Sensor Tower reports the top 10 games by US consumer spending in March and the change in rank vs Feb as: MONOPOLY GO!, Royal Match, Roblox, Candy Crush Saga, Coin Master (+1), Whiteout Survival (+1), Last War: Survival (+4), Pokémon Go (-3), Township (+1) and Clash of Clans (-2).

“The highlight this month is Last War: Survival, which grew 40% to overtake Pokémon GO, Township, and Clash of Clans,” said Samuel Aune of Sensor Tower. “Last War: Survival is now right on the heels of fellow 2023 4X Strategy launch Whiteout Survival (+14% MoM)."

“The top four games remain unchanged and continue to maintain a significant gap from the rest of the field, with MONOPOLY GO! still holding a commanding lead over 2nd place Royal Match,” said Aune.

Accessories

March spending on Accessories increased 9% when compared to a year ago to $242M, helped by 8% growth in headset/headphone spending.

The PlayStation Dual Sense Edge was the best-selling accessory in dollar sales during both March and the first quarter.

Software Charts

Year to Date

PlayStation Platforms

Xbox Platforms

Nintendo Platforms

Monthly Active User Engagement

Top 10 Games Played on PlayStation 5 Ranked by Monthly Active Users (US)

Top 10 Games Played on Xbox Series Ranked by Monthly Active Users (US)

Top 10 Games Played on Steam Ranked by Monthly Active Users (US)

More Information at Matt Piscatella
​

 

[Little Chicken]

 

[SlimySnake]

I bought last year's MLB The Show. my first since 2019 and my goodness it looks so bad. The faces are still PS3 era compared to NBA and Fifa. The presentation is exceptionally poor compared to NBA and Fifa. The spring training trees looked worse than Uncharted 1-3 trees. The native 4k presentation is the only saving grace of this game. I checked MLB 2024 footage to see if they improved anything and nope, virtually identical. Laziest sports franchise of all time. These developers have no shame. I wouldve quit my job and started flipping burgers if i was them. These people have no talent, no ambition, nothing. But they tie yearly roster updates behind $70 upgrades so people HAVE to buy these games every year. Despicable.

 

[Woopah]

Excellent debuts for DD2, Ronin and Peach. Hopefully the latter two show the same great legs we have seen in other countries.

Unicorn Overlord looks to have over performed on Switch. Justifies those Japanese third parties that pivoted to support the platform.

Big drop in hardware, but understandable given the end of shortages this last year. Xbox Series still can't sell more units than the Switch.

 

[Mr Moose]

Wait, is this 2 weeks late?

 

[Jaybe]

Wow, Helldivers 2 at #2 for the month and still #1 year-to-date

 

[Woopah]

Wait, is this 2 weeks late?

It was supposed to come out yesterday I believe. Not sure why the intended launch date was later than usual.

 

[Kacho]

WWE 2k24 not even in the top 20 YTD? Also got beat by the ultra niche Unicorn Overlord in March?

 

[Mr Moose]

Weird, it's still a sale, why isn't it included? Didn't they do the same with Pokémon?

 

[eerik9000]

WTF is Grand Theft Auto V (Remastered)? Rockstar are one of the few sane companies that don't call their ports "remasters".

 

[Kacho]

OP is all over the place btw. Can you please reorganize it Draugoth ?

 

[adamsapple]

Interesting to note that FF 15 is the top selling game in the franchise in the US.

 

[Little Mac]

 

[Kacho]

Interesting to note that FF 15 is the top selling game in the franchise in the US.

Yeah, that won't change until Square drops their PS exclusive strategy. It would also help to make a good mainline game but let's not get crazy here.

 

[Mr Moose]

Interesting to note that FF 15 is the top selling game in the franchise in the US.

All time, so do they mean LTD and not in the same time-frame?

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Since when are you posting NPD sales threads Draugoth ? Lmao

If you want to post these please use the proper formatting like on install base. Actually just replace the whole OP with what's here:

Circana March 2024: #1 Dragon's Dogma #3 MLB: The Show #5 Rise of Ronin #6 Peach; PS5 #1 Units + Rev, Switch #2 Units Xbox #2 Rev

State of the market Projected total US spending on video game hardware, content and accessories gained 4% in March 2024 vs YA, reaching $4.9B. Mobile content spending grew 15%, offseting a 32% drop in hardware. (Mobile source: Sensor Tower) Mobile’s strong performance was supplemented by a 3%...

www.installbaseforum.com

 

[Draugoth]

Since when are you posting NPD sales threads Draugoth ? Lmao

If you want to post these please use the proper formatting like on install base. Actually just replace the whole OP with what's here:

Circana March 2024: #1 Dragon's Dogma #3 MLB: The Show #5 Rise of Ronin #6 Peach; PS5 #1 Units + Rev, Switch #2 Units Xbox #2 Rev

State of the market Projected total US spending on video game hardware, content and accessories gained 4% in March 2024 vs YA, reaching $4.9B. Mobile content spending grew 15%, offseting a 32% drop in hardware. (Mobile source: Sensor Tower) Mobile’s strong performance was supplemented by a 3%...

www.installbaseforum.com

Usually? Never. Only did this one because of the FFVII Rebirth sales tweet from Piscatella.

 

[Kacho]

Since when are you posting NPD sales threads Draugoth ? Lmao

If you want to post these please use the proper formatting like on install base. Actually just replace the whole OP with what's here:

Circana March 2024: #1 Dragon's Dogma #3 MLB: The Show #5 Rise of Ronin #6 Peach; PS5 #1 Units + Rev, Switch #2 Units Xbox #2 Rev

State of the market Projected total US spending on video game hardware, content and accessories gained 4% in March 2024 vs YA, reaching $4.9B. Mobile content spending grew 15%, offseting a 32% drop in hardware. (Mobile source: Sensor Tower) Mobile’s strong performance was supplemented by a 3%...

www.installbaseforum.com

100%

 

[jm89]

The worst NPD thread award in the history of gaf goes to Draugoth

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Usually? Never. Only did this one because of the FFVII Rebirth sales.

Then pls don't do that anymore. Let one of the regulars do these going forward. Same with the monthly UK and European ones. Oh and the Famitsu Weekly ones as well.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

No commentary on Helldivers being the 7th highest game published title from Sony in the US after 2 months?

7th is absolutely insane when you consider in no particular order

Spider-Man
Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man Miles Morales
The Last of Us Part 2
Gran Turismo 7
God of War
God of War Ragnarok
Horizon Zero Dawn
Uncharted 4

Almost certainly well on its way to 20 million units sold within just 2 months considering that it's slightly cheaper than most of these games released for 40 vs 60/70.

Strong possibility that this becomes Sony's best selling game of all time...

 

[Loomy]

Yeah, that won't change until Square drops their PS exclusive strategy. It would also help to make a good mainline game but let's not get crazy here.

Calm down, buddy. You'll only confuse Square by asking them to do 2 things at a time.

15 also had a couple of things going for it. Intrigue from the FFversus13 days, the first completely new single player entry since the FF13 trilogy started.

 

[Chukhopops]

WWE 2k24 not even in the top 20 YTD? Also got beat by the ultra niche Unicorn Overlord in March?

* Digital sales not included - so it’s at least twice as much overall.

Also very happy for Dragon’s Dogma 2, god bless Capcom forever.

 

[gow3isben]

Yeah, that won't change until Square drops their PS exclusive strategy. It would also help to make a good mainline game but let's not get crazy here.

You mean add PC? Going on Xbox won’t add any meaningful sales and Nintendo is too underpowered.

 

[ManaByte]

Interesting to note that FF 15 is the top selling game in the franchise in the US.

It was multi-platform with the PC version only 4 months after the console releases.

 

[Kacho]

You mean add PC? Going on Xbox won’t add any meaningful sales and Nintendo is too underpowered.

I mean they should get their future final fantasy games on as many platforms as possible, including the upcoming Switch successor.

 

[Kacho]

* Digital sales not included - so it’s at least twice as much overall

Ah I missed that. That makes much more sense.

 

[yazenov]

All time, so do they mean LTD and not in the same time-frame?

Yes it's most likely LTD, and not launch align.

But awesome sales for Final Fantasy 7 remake at number 2.

 

[ManaByte]

But awesome sales for Final Fantasy 7 remake at number 2.

The game was released on PS4 in the middle of COVID.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Yeah, that won't change until Square drops their PS exclusive strategy. It would also help to make a good mainline game but let's not get crazy here.

Lol XV being multiplat is not the reason it's top in revenue in US. It's because it's been on the market for almost a decade, and had pent-up demand from XIII (it was at first going to be an expansion to XIII on the 7th gen systems). At the time of its launch PS4 contributed to the vast majority of its sales even in the US, let alone other markets.

Also let's not ignore all the exclusives that outsell like 80% of the multiplats on the market, especially if you align them for available platform reach. We know for example FF XVI and Rebirth have sold better adjusted for market size than games like RE4 Remake, SF6, Yakuza, Persona, and Dragon's Dogma 2. Yet for some reason that's very convenient people want to keep insisting the new FF games are commercial bombs.

No commentary on Helldivers being the 7th highest game published title from Sony in the US after 2 months?

7th is absolutely insane when you consider in no particular order

Spider-Man
Spider-Man 2
Spider-Man Miles Morales
The Last of Us Part 2
Gran Turismo 7
God of War
God of War Ragnarok
Horizon Zero Dawn
Uncharted 4

Almost certainly well on its way to 20 million units sold within just 2 months considering that it's slightly cheaper than most of these games released for 40 vs 60/70.

Strong possibility that this becomes Sony's best selling game of all time...

Which will probably make Day and Date on PC the standard for them going forward...

..which is when the real bleeding begins (for the console). But, I digress, and I know we probably are gonna see this one differently for a long time. However, if HD2 is such a runaway success, I don't see why Sony would limit Day 1 PC going forward to just GAAS titles, especially if they're in it for the money.

That's why I'm both very happy for Helldivers 2's success...but also very worried about how that is going to influence the whole of SIE going forward. We'll see what happens.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Lol XV being multiplat is not the reason it's top in revenue in US. It's because it's been on the market for almost a decade, and had pent-up demand from XIII (it was at first going to be an expansion to XIII on the 7th gen systems). At the time of its launch PS4 contributed to the vast majority of its sales even in the US, let alone other markets.

Also let's not ignore all the exclusives that outsell like 80% of the multiplats on the market, especially if you align them for available platform reach. We know for example FF XVI and Rebirth have sold better adjusted for market size than games like RE4 Remake, SF6, Yakuza, Persona, and Dragon's Dogma 2. Yet for some reason that's very convenient people want to keep insisting the new FF games are commercial bombs.



Which will probably make Day and Date on PC the standard for them going forward...

..which is when the real bleeding begins (for the console). But, I digress...

It kind of is the top reason. 40-50% of the sales for 13 and 15 came from Xbox/PC.

That split wasn't as pronounced back in the day, but since the days of the PS3 faltering, it's become more true.

You're not entirely wrong. FF15 did have a lot of pent up demand. FF14 had been online, and 15 came 7 years after FF13.

FF15 only sold slightly better than FF13 purely on PlayStation. My guess is that Sony paid a huge chunk of the development costs for FF16 and FF7 Remake and FF7 Rebirth. Probably at least 100 million a piece for console exclusivity and timed exclusivity against PC and my guess is that they wouldn't do it again (although they probably already have a deal in place for the last chapter of FF7). It was probably a 300-500 million dollar deal for those games and it really hasn't born fruit.

I'm not sure it's fair to compare FF7 Rebirth to Persona 3. One of those games had a full production budget and one definitely didn't. Most companies could probably pump out Persona 3 Relaod in 6 months of devtime...

 

[BennyBlanco]

Steam popping off this year

 

[Mibu no ookami]

Which will probably make Day and Date on PC the standard for them going forward...

..which is when the real bleeding begins (for the console). But, I digress, and I know we probably are gonna see this one differently for a long time. However, if HD2 is such a runaway success, I don't see why Sony would limit Day 1 PC going forward to just GAAS titles, especially if they're in it for the money.

That's why I'm both very happy for Helldivers 2's success...but also very worried about how that is going to influence the whole of SIE going forward. We'll see what happens.

I think you're learning the wrong lessons from Helldivers.

I don't think the lesson is: "Oh we need to put more games on PC day 1"

It's that we need to make a better variety of games and games that appeal to both console and PC. The 3rd person action games aren't the biggest selling franchises on PC. They do very well on console and will continue to do well on console, but that's not where the money is on PC.

This is why Epic got out of the Gears of War franchise and why even why Bungie got out of the Halo business and refuses to do single player campaigns.

Multiplayer games and live service games benefit from having the largest audience possible. Day 1 makes sense. Single player games don't really need that as much.

Fortnite is the most popular on consoles, but it wouldn't be fortnite without PC and Mobile players.

I think there is a lot of danger for a business in taking away the wrong lessons from success stories. For example you could say that Helldivers was a success without a lot of advertising, so we don't need to advertise our games... This is also the wrong lesson.

 

[Unknown?]

Interesting to note that FF 15 is the top selling game in the franchise in the US.

That's probably what helped kill interest in the series.

 

[yazenov]

Steam popping off this year

Very strong sales for Steam and there is no denying it is the lead platform in sales for this game in the US.

However, it's strange that Mat doesn't give us similar comparisons for other multiplatform games on Steam and consoles such as Dragons Dogma 2, and other games. Which may indicate that this is an anomaly rather than the rule. Or its case-to-case basis where the majority of the sales are on Steam. I think the same comparison was given with Diablo and Starfield. That's all I can think of.

It would be nice if he showed some consistency with these comparisons rather than one-offs.

 

[Woopah]

Very strong sales for Steam and there is no denying it is the lead platform in sales for this game in the US.

However, it's strange that Mat doesn't give us similar comparisons for other multiplatform games on Steam and consoles such as Dragons Dogma 2, and other games. Which may indicate that this is an anomaly rather than the rule. Or its case-to-case basis where the majority of the sales are on Steam. I think the same comparison was given with Diablo and Starfield. That's all I can think of.

It would be nice if he showed some consistency with these comparisons rather than one-offs.

There's probably a limit to how much information he's allowed to give for free. But I do wish we got actual numbers and splits by platform!

 

[Hardensoul]

Unicorn Overlord, what is the breakdown? Didn’t see it charted in PlayStation or Xbox. But did chart on Switch.

Is switch carrying Unicorn Overlord sales?

 

[Mibu no ookami]

That's probably what helped kill interest in the series.

I think you have to look at the whole pie here.

FF7 Remake is the 2nd best selling FF game in US history. Not only did it come out when the PS4 had the most units sold in 2020, but it also came out on PC a year later. Obviously it would have sold a bit better if it came out on Xbox as well, maybe even more than FF15.

The amount of time out on the market favors 15, but I also think 15 probably killed a lot of interest in the series.

It has an 81 on Metacritic with a user review score for whatever that is worth of 7.8. Collectively not as bad as FF13, but not a return to form that the franchise probably needed. 16 probably damaged it in other ways including oversaturation.

 

[Hardensoul]

Interesting to note that FF 15 is the top selling game in the franchise in the US.

Is t this more troubling sign for FF7 Rebirth sales. Rebirth is $70 game vs $60 or lower for the other FFs.

 

[adamsapple]

Is t this more troubling sign for FF7 Rebirth sales. Rebirth is $70 game vs $60 or lower for the other FFs.

Maybe, it doesn't look like Rebirth is lighting up the charts (even if it is selling respectably). It might hit a PS5 sales ceiling at 4, 5 million with the inevitable PC version adding a couple more over it.

 

[SantaC]

Interesting to note that FF 15 is the top selling game in the franchise in the US.

multiplatform

 

[Hardensoul]

Maybe, it doesn't look like Rebirth is lighting up the charts (even if it is selling respectably). It might hit a PS5 sales ceiling at 4, 5 million with the inevitable PC version adding a couple more over it.

It would be interesting to see. Square has been quiet about sales numbers. I wonder if we see a price reduction or limited sales soon.

 

[Woopah]

Unicorn Overlord, what is the breakdown? Didn’t see it charted in PlayStation or Xbox. But did chart on Switch.

Is switch carrying Unicorn Overlord sales?

Sales can still be good on other platforms, but Switch is likely the leading SKU.

 

[Danjin44]

Soooooooooo happy to Unicorn Overlord is selling well……it was one of the most fun game I played this year.

 

[Hardensoul]

Sales can still be good on other platforms, but Switch is likely the leading SKU.

Not sure about that, it was 8th in the overall chart. But not top 10 in Xbox but not PlayStation top 10 is more surprising.

Which leads me to believe it’s not selling well on their platforms.

 

[recursive]

What went on with Sifu? It went from 151 in Feb to 9 in March?

 

[Jaybe]

What went on with Sifu? It went from 151 in Feb to 9 in March?

The PlayStation engagement chart? Sifu was added to PS Plus I believe.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Yeah, that won't change until Square drops their PS exclusive strategy. It would also help to make a good mainline game but let's not get crazy here.

Because FF15 is a good mainline FF game

Just get a ps5

 

[Kacho]

Because FF15 is a good mainline FF game

Never said FF15 was good or implied that. FF15 sold phenomenally because it was multiplatform. If they want to reach those heights ever again they need to go multiplat. The last good mainline FF was X. The series has been varying degrees of shit since then.

Just get a ps5

There aren't enough interesting games to justify the purchase. The PC version of FF16 is imminent and I'm not eager to play it. Didn't finish FF7R so no interest in the fanfic sequel. Hopefully Square can make some good games going forward. I'm not holding my breath though.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

Well, I guess FF7 was not a rebirth of FF as an IP.