June NPD: Batman: Arkham Knight powers PS4 to victory

It was a good month to be the Batman, if the June NPD report is any indication.

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The console wars took something of an interesting twist for the month of June. The PlayStation 4 beat out the Xbox One, according to the latest NPD report, and it was largely on the strength of Batman: Arkham Knight. Yes, the PS4-exclusive features and the PS4 bundle were enough to give the multiplatform Batman the power to give Sony the edge for June.

"Batman: Arkham Knight was the number one game for June 2015, and with just 12 days of sales was also the second highest-selling game so far in 2015 after Mortal Kombat X," said the NPD Group's Liam Callahan. "Sales of Arkham Knight slightly exceeded October 2011 sales of Batman: Arkham City (remarkable considering the difference in hardware install bases) and if sales were included from hardware bundles, Arkham Knight is the best-selling game of 2015 so far."

Batman almost single-handedly spurred the software market last month, leading a 19 percent year-to-year increase of physical sales. This is remarkable considering what a slow month for new releases it was. Finishing behind it was The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited and LEGO Jurassic World, with last month's top dog, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, taking a fourth place finish. Splatoon continues its surprising success by rounding out the top five.

June Top 10 Games (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms incl. PC; new releases in bold)

  • Batman: Arkham Knight (PS4, XBO, PC)
  • The Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited (XBO, PS4, PC)
  • LEGO: Jurassic World (360, XBO, PS4, PS3, 3DS, NWU, PSV)
  • The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (PS4, XBO, PC)**
  • Splatoon (NWU)
  • Minecraft (360, PS3, XBO, PS4)
  • Grand Theft Auto V (XBO, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)
  • Mortal Kombat X (PS4, XBO)**
  • NBA 2K15 (360, PS4, XBO, PS3, PC)
  • Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (XBO, PS4, 360, PS3, PC)**
Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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