March 2020 NPD data reveals multiple records broken by Switch and Animal Crossing: New Horizons

We all knew that March 2020 was going to be a huge month for Nintendo, but it turned out even bigger than most thought. Nintendo absolutely killed it in March 2020, topping hardware and software charts in a major way. Remember, this data doesn't even include digital sales! Check out the retail round-up for March 2020 below.

March 2020 Top 20 Software

1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
3. MLB: The Show 20
4. Resident Evil 3
5. NBA 2K20
6. Doom Eternal*
7. Persona 5: Royal
8. Grand Theft Auto V
9. Borderlands 3
10. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe*
11. Nioh 2
12. Red Dead Redemption II
13. FIFA 20 [EA Sports]
14. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
15. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX*
16. Madden NFL 20 [EA Sports]
17. Just Dance 2020
18. Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order
19. Mortal Kombat 11
20. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Remastered

Top 10 games so far this year

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
3. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
4. NBA 2K20
5. MLB: The Show 20
6. Grand Theft Auto V
7. Resident Evil 3
8. Madden NFL 20 [EA Sports]
9. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe*
10. Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order

Top 10 games of the last 12 months

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
2. NBA 2K20
3. Madden NFL 20 [EA Sports]
4. Borderlands 3
5. Mortal Kombat 11
6. Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order
7. Grand Theft Auto V
8. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe*
9. FIFA 20 [EA Sports]
10. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*

March 2020 NPD: Top 10 Switch games

1. Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
2. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe*
3. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
4. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX*
5. Just Dance 2020
6. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
7. Super Mario Party*
8. Luigi’s Mansion 3*
9. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe*
10. Pokemon: Sword*

- consumers in the U.S. spent $1.597 billion on hardware, new full games, and accessories plus game cards in March 2020
- the most money the industry has generated in NPD’s reporting since $1.8 billion in 2008
- $461 million was spent on gaming hardware, a 63% increase
- $739 million was spent on gaming software, a 34% increase
- $397 million was spent on accessories, a 12% increase
- year-to-date accessory spending has declined 3% to $905 million
- year-to-date 2020 tracked spending across video game spending totaled $3 billion, declining 4% from 2019
- Switch set an all-time record for unit sales for any March month since NPD began tracking
- Switch hardware sales more than doubled when compared to a year ago
- Switch generated the highest first quarter unit sales for any hardware since the Nintendo DS in the first quarter of 2010
- March 2020 was also the best month for accessory spending in the history of the NPD report
- March tracked software spending reached its highest total for a March month since 2011
- 9 of the top 10 best-selling games of March 2020 generated higher dollar sales than similarly ranked titles a year ago
- total first quarter tracked software spending fell 8%, to $1.4 billion
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the best-selling game of March 2020 and the second best-selling game of 2020
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons achieved the 3rd highest launch month physical dollar/unit sales of any Nintendo published game in tracked history
- only Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Dec 2018) and Super Smash Bros. Brawl (Mar 2008) debuted with higher physical software sales in a launch month
- launch month dollar sales of Animal Crossing: New Horizons have exceeded the lifetime sales of all other Animal Crossing franchise games, making Animal Crossing: New Horizons the best-selling game in franchise history
- controller spending reached a new all-time high for a March, with dollar sales exceeding the previous best a year ago
- Switch Pro Controller was the best-selling individual gamepad of March
- headset/headphone spending achieved a new record for a March month, with sales above the previous high of March 2018