An absolute juggernaut of a month for Nintendo

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