NPD reveals the best-selling games of 2020 in the USA

The past year has been massive for game sales due to more people staying at home during the pandemic. With entertainment at a premium level, family game brands have grown in popularity. This led to huge sales of Call of Duty, Madden and anything from Nintendo. And you’ll find them all in the 20 best-selling games of 2020 in the United States, according to industry monitoring company The NPD Group.

Here is the complete classification:

Classification		20 best games of 2020 (Complete Physical and Digital Game on Nintendo eShop, PlayStation, STEAM and Xbox platforms for publishers on the Digital Leaders Panel) classified in sales in dollars	Editor
1		Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War	Activision Blizzard (Corp)
two		Called modern armament war	Activision Blizzard (Corp)
3		Animal Crossing: New Horizons *	Nintendo
4		Madden NFL 21	Electronic Arts
5		Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla	Ubisoft
6		The Last of Us: Part II	Sony (Corp)
7		Tsushima’s Ghost	Sony (Corp)
8		Mario Kart 8: Deluxe *	Nintendo
9		Super Mario 3D All-Stars *	Nintendo
10		Final Fantasy VII: Remake	Square Enix Inc (Corp)
11		Marvel Avengers	Square Enix Inc (Corp)
12		Marvel Spider-Man: Miles Morales	Sony (Corp)
13		NBA 2K21 *	Take 2 Interactive (Corp)
14		Super Smash Bros. Ultimate *	Nintendo
15		FIFA 21	Electronic Arts
16		Mortal Kombat 11	Warner Bros. Interactive
17		Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot	Bandai Namco Entertainment
18		MLB: The Show 20	Sony (Corp)
19		Cyberpunk 2077 *	Warner Bros. Interactive
20		Tony Hawk professional skater 1 + 2	Activision Blizzard (Corp)
		* Digital sales not included

Total video game sales have also set a new record of $ 57 billion across all categories. This represents an increase of 27% year on year. The launch of new hardware was a major force behind this growth. But the content of games and accessories has also grown.

Here are the complete results for 2020, according to the NPD:

Dollar sales in 2020, millions		2019	2020	CHG
Total video game sales		$ 44,926	$ 56,905	27%
Video game hardware		$ 3,937	$ 5,307	35%
Video game content (full physical and digital game, DLC / MTX and consumer spending with subscription on console, cloud, mobile *, laptop, PC and VR platforms)		$ 38,824	$ 48,981	26%
Video game accessories		$ 2,165	$ 2,617	21%
* Mobile expenses provided by Sensor Tower

Call of Duty

Call of Duty is, once again, the obvious winner on this chart. The series has the first two slots with Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War 2020 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019 in second place.

“Call of Duty was ranked as the best-selling game franchise in the United States market for the 12th record consecutive year,” said Mat Piscatella, an analyst at NPD.

Nintendo

Nintendo is one of the other highlights of 2020. And while the company has box office hits in games like Animal Cross: New Horizons, it is also succeeding in its library.

“Half of the 20 best-selling games in December 2020 were published by Nintendo,” said Piscatella. “In 2020, Animal Crossing achieved the highest physical sales in dollars for a game published by Nintendo in a year since Wii Fit Plus in 2010.”

Cyberpunk 2077

Developer CD Projekt Red previously confirmed that it sold more than 13 million copies of Cyberpunk 2077. But the studio does not share digital sales data with the NPD Group. Despite this, the game still performed well in physical sales.

“Cyberpunk 2077 debuted as the second best-selling game of December,” said Piscatella. “And it’s the 19th best-selling game of 2020, despite the lack of digital tracking.”

The Last of Us Part II

PlayStation’s big budget exclusive, The Last of Us Part II, was also a best seller.

“The Last of Us: Part II ended 2020 as the year’s best-selling PlayStation exclusive, while ranking as the sixth best-selling title overall,” said Piscatella. “The Last of Us: Part II is now ranked as the third best-selling game published by Sony in U.S. history in dollar sales, behind only Marvel Spider-Man and God of War 2018.”