About halfway through any given month, the NPD reveals the top-selling games of the previous month. And now the NPD has pulled the curtain back on the top selling games of December 2020.
At the number one spot for probably not the last time, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War was deemed the best selling game over the Christmas period alone. This single installment in one of the biggest FPS franchises in gaming history pulled in a massive $3 billion, according to Activision. It's a series that is showing no signs of slowing down.
Second on the list is CD Projekt Red's hotly-anticipated Cyberpunk 2077. Despite controversy surrounding its initial release in which players experienced a slew of bugs that rendered the game difficult to play, the sci-fi action RPG game took the number two spot. Overall, it's probably understandable. In spite of the issues since launching, Cyberpunk has received high praise from fans and industry types alike. Bear in mind that digital sales were not counted so who knows whether it would have knocked Cold War off the top spot if they had been.
There are some more which gamers may expect to see, such as FIFA 21 and Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. Here's the full list for December 2020:
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Assassin's Creed: Valhalla
- Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Madden NFL 21
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- NBA 2K21
- Immortals: Fenyx Rising
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Just Dance 2021
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
- FIFA 21
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
- Super Mario Odyssey
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Party
- Ring Fit Adventure
- Mortal Kombat 11
It's interesting to see The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild still make it in the top 20 and no doubt fans will be delighted to see the hugely popular Animal Crossing: New Horizons push its way into sixth place just ahead of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
However, because of the low supplies of both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles, it's likely that figures could have been much higher, according to Executive Director and Video Game Industry Advisor for NPD, Mat Piscatella. It's also interesting to not see Naughty Dog's The Last of Us: Part 2 up there. While it was the sixth best selling game for the whole year, it seems to have just fallen shy of December's list.
In terms of hardware, it probably won't be too surprising that the festive season was the best month for console sales. Reaching $1.35 billion in US sales, this was one of the biggest Decembers since 2013.