NBA 2K20 had quite the opening month, but their problems certainly didn’t hurt their sales. 2K20 was the highest selling game in September, beating major games such as Madden 20 and Borderlands 3.

Video Game and Hardware Sales

The NPD Group, which tracks video game sales, released its report on sales for the month of September. NPD tracks all physical sales of games through retailers, and also receives data from digital sales through publisher. Those, however, come with an asterisk, as some publishers do not participate with the NPD Group.

According to NPD, over $1.2B USD was spent on video game hardware, accessories and games. NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said on the month, “September 2019 tracked spending across video game hardware, software, accessories, and game cards totaled $1.278 billion, down 8 percent when compared to a year ago. Declines were experienced across all categories.” Piscatella also noted that as a whole, 2019 numbers on video game and hardware sales are down 6 percent as compared to last year.

NBA 2K20 Sales

Several sports games made the top 20 in sales for the month of September, with NBA 2K20 hitting the top spot. This is huge news, as the month was crowded with releases. Borderlands 3, FIFA 20, NHL 20, Gears 5 and The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening were all released last month.

In fact, Piscatella noted that not only was NBA 2K20 the top game on the list, but its strong performance last month also made it the most sold game of the year to date. “NBA 2K20 debuts as the best-selling game of September 2019, and instantly becomes the best-selling game of 2019 year-to-date. NBA 2K20 launch-month sales were the highest for any sports game in history, exceeding sales of the previous record holder, NBA 2K19.”

NBA 2K20 wasn’t the only sports game on the list. Madden 20 was #5 on the list, and NHL 20, which was released last month as well, was #9.

Here’s the full list for September:

NOTE: These charts are sorted by dollar sales — not number of units sold.

1. NBA 2K20
2. Borderlands 3
3. FIFA 20
4. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening*
5. Madden NFL 20
6. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint
7. Gears 5^
8. Code Vein
9. NHL 20
10. Mario Kart 8*
11. Minecraft#
12. Grand Theft Auto V
13. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
14. Spyro Reignited Trilogy
15. Red Dead Redemption II
16. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
17. Plants vs Zombies: Battle For Neighborville
18. Marvel’s Spider-Man
19. Catherine
20. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*

*Does not include digital sales
^Does not include Steam digital sales
#Only includes digital sales for PlayStation 4 and Xbox one

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