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Batman Saves Gaming Industry According to June 2015 NPDs

by Tony Polanco3

It seems that Gotham isn’t the only thing Batman rescues. June’s NPD numbers have just been released and we see that The Caped Crusader helped to spur sales of software and hardware.

Sales for software, hardware and accessories were up 18% from this same time last year, for a total of $869.4 million. Software alone generated $345.5 million, which is an increase of 21% over last year and hardware brought in $313.1 million, an increase of 8% from June 2014. Current-gen consoles PlayStation 4 and Xbox One saw a 15% increase from last year as well. Overall, this marks the fourth month this year that sales outdid those of last year.

Batman: Arkham Knight was the big winner this month, and was the main reason the industry saw so much growth. As of now, it is the best selling game of the year, second only behind Mortal Kombat X, another title from Warner Bros.

Arkham Knight sold the most on PlayStation 4. What’s interesting about this is that NPD doesn’t include sales of bundles. Sony has said that the Batman bundle helped sell PS4s in June, so the fact that the game sold better on PS4s without bundles being added to the numbers is even more impressive. If bundle sales where included, then that would make Arkham Knight the best selling game of 2015 without a doubt.

Here is a list of the top ten selling games in June. Note that four of these are from Warner Bros. who seems to be making itself a bigger player in the industry.

  • 01. Batman: Arkham Knight (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
  • 02. The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited (Xbox One, PS4, PC)
  • 03. Lego: Jurassic World (360, Xbox One, PS4, PS3, 3DS, Wii U, Vita)
  • 04. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
  • 05. Splatoon (Wii U)
  • 06. Minecraft (360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4)
  • 07. Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)
  • 08. Mortal Kombat X (PS4, Xbox One)
  • 09. NBA 2K15 (360, PS4, Xbox One, PS3, PC)
  • 10. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (Xbox One, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)

Despite June being a typically slow month, the industry saw some impressive growth that analysts believe will continue for the second half of this year.

Considering normal life mundane, Tony prefers to spend most of his time absorbed in fictional worlds that stimulate his imagination. Tony is a geek through and through, and his love for Comic Books, Science Fiction, Heavy Metal, and Video Games knows no bounds. He uses his natural writing talent and communication skills to express to the world why it's awesome to live a geek-centric lifestyle. Former Senior Editor of STFUandPlay and Staff Writer for DualShockers. Current Executive Editor of this here site, Tony writes news, previews, editorials and is the host of the Throwdown, Throwdown your Questions and Spoiler Alert podcasts. Tony encourages the team to do their best by being all George Washington and getting bullet holes in his cape from leading by example. Tony also still dreams of being a superhero one day.