Marvel’s Avengers Launch the Second-Biggest for a Superhero Game After Spider-Man Says NPD

The NPD Group has released their full North American sales data for September 2020, and once again numbers were up year-on-year with players spending $4.3 billion on games, additional content, and hardware. That’s up 10 percent compared to September 2019. The Nintendo Switch was the top-selling console, as it has been all year.

On the software front, Marvel’s Avengers scored the #1 spot, and the title of the second-biggest superhero launch of all time behind Marvel’s Spider-Man. Of course, Spider-Man was a PS4 exclusive, while Avengers is a multiplatform game, so in some ways the comparison is apples to oranges. Other new games on the list included Super Mario 3D All-Stars at #2, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 & 2 at #4, NBA 2K21 at #5, Crusader Kings III at #7, Star Wars: Squadrons at #9, and Crash Bandicoot 4 at #11. For those wondering, yes, the latter two games actually came out in early October, but the NPD’s numbers include the full final week of September, including the few days that overlap into the next month.

Here are September’s top 20 games according to NPD:

1. Marvel’s Avengers
2. Super Mario 3D All-Stars
3. Madden NFL 21
4. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 & 2
5. NBA 2K21
6. Call of Duty Modern Warfare
7. Crusader Kings III
8. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
9. Star Wars: Squadrons
10. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
11. Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time
12. Ghost of Tsushima
13. Ring Fit Adventure
14. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
15. EA Sports UFC 4
16. New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
17. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
18. Super Mario Odyssey
19. Mortal Kombat 11
20. Super Mario Party

And here are the top-10 best-selling games of 2020 so far:

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
3. The Last of Us Part II
4. Madden NFL 21
5. Ghost of Tsushima
6. Final Fantasy VII Remake
7. Marvel’s Avengers
8. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
9. MLB The Show 20
10. Super Mario 3D All-Stars

Some interesting results this month – definitely wasn’t expecting NBA 2K21 to debut as low as it did, but I am happy to see Crusader Kings III hitting the top 10. One more month of normalcy, and then everything gets shaken up with the launch of next-gen consoles in November!