The NPD numbers for January 2019 have been released, thanks to Mat Piscatella. Leading the charge is Kingdom Hearts III, which was the best selling title for the month.
According to the NPD, this is the first time that a Kingdom Hearts game has topped the best-sellers chart since Kingdom Hearts II. That game released on the PlayStation 2, back during December 22, 2005. That’s thirteen years ago!
Let’s also keep in mind that January 2019 was packed with several possible best sellers. Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII, New Super Mario Bros. Ultimate, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Red Dead Redemption II and my personal favorite, Resident Evil 2 Remake. Any number of these games could have surpassed Kingdom Hearts III and took the best selling spot. It doesn’t look like we’ll see the exact numbers, but I’m curious to know the number of sales between the top three games was.
For specific platform sales of the game, it topped the charts on both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. While coming in first for the PlayStation 4, which was completely expected. The Xbox One sales surprised me, with the title coming in second, right after Resident Evil 2. Which is fitting as on Sony’s platform, it was the exact reverse.
Even more so, it goes to show that Japanese games, including RPGs, can indeed sale on the Xbox. Which is something that many people have stated possibly wouldn’t happen. Which is great news, between the recent sales of Kingdom Hearts III, as well as Nier: Automata, there’s hope for the Xbox One. At least when it comes to games that traditionally didn’t do well on the console before.
The news is basically the cherry on the top of a very delicious ice cream sundae. The multiple development issues, the extremely long wait period, all of which finally materialized a game that every Kingdom Hearts fan had eagerly awaited. Now for the title to be announced as the best selling game of January 2019. How sweet is that?
Kingdom Hearts III is currently available for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Have you played it yet? We sure have, check out our review here.
Source: NPD