NBA 2K20 is already 2019’s best-selling game in the US

NBA 2K20 is 2019’s best-selling game in the US year-to-date, according to data from retail monitor the NPD Group.

Released on September 6, 2K’s basketball title recorded the highest launch month sales of any sports game in US history, taking the record from last year’s series entry, NBA 2K19.

The launch has helped the NBA 2K franchise overtake Guitar Hero to become the sixth biggest video game franchise in NPD tracking history in terms of full game dollar sales.

NBA 2K20 took the top spot on September’s software chart ahead of Borderlands 3, which currently ranks as the third best-selling game of 2019 after setting its own franchise launch month sales record.

Fellow new releases FIFA 20 and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening debuted at No.3 and No.4 respectively, while July and August chart topper Madden NFL 20 rounded off the top five.

NPD said monthly software sales fell 4% year-over-year to $732 million, although year-to-date dollar sales are flat at $3.874 billion.

Hardware spending in September 2019 fell 22% year-over-year to $240 million. With Xbox One and PS4 sales in decline ahead of the arrival of next-gen consoles, year-to-date hardware spending is down 21% year-over-year to $1.872 billion.

Switch has topped US hardware sales for 10 months in a row, according to NPD, and is the only platform to record year-on-year growth. Nintendo said on Thursday that Nintendo Switch sales have topped 15 million units in North America, with sales through September 2019 up over 20% year-to-date.

Combined hardware, software and accessory sales in September 2019 were $1.278 billion, down 8% from September 2018. Year-to-date consumer spending on gaming products is down 6% year-over-year to $8.3 billion.

In late September the NPD Group revealed the leading PlayStation and Xbox games of the current generation based on dollar sales.

As well as top ten charts for PS4 and Xbox One games, which were dominated by Rockstar and Call of Duty titles, it released lists of the best-selling platform exclusives too.