The former NPD Group (which is now named “Circana” for some reason) has released its full North American sales data for March, which was a somewhat mixed bag of a month. Players spent $4.6 billion on games, additional content, and hardware in March, a 5 percent year-on-year decrease. Hardware sales were up 10 percent year-on-year, driven by the red-hot PS5, but software and content sales were down 7 percent. Perhaps the biggest news is that PS5 has now surpassed PS4 sales on a “time-aligned basis.” That means Sony has sold more PS5s in the console’s first 29 months than they sold PS4s in its first 29 months. In fact, the PS5 set a Sony March hardware record, which was previously set by the PSP (yes, the PSP) which sold 620k units in March 2005.

　　On the software front, the Resident Evil 4 remake debuted at #1, bumping Hogwarts Legacy to #2, but, as mentioned, software sales were still down year-on-year as last March the juggernaut that was Elden Ring was tearing up the charts. Other new releases included MLB The Show 23 at #3 and WWE 2K23 at #7. Meanwhile, The Last of Us Part I rose another spot from last month to #5 on the strength of the HBO series and the game’s PC release.

　　Here are March’s top 20 games according to Circana:

　　1 - Resident Evil 4

　　2 - Hogwarts Legacy

　　3 - MLB The Show 23

　　4 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II

　　5 - The Last of Us Part I

　　6 - FIFA 23

　　7 - WWE 2K23

　　8 - Elden Ring

　　9 - Madden NFL 23

　　10 - Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

　　11 - Minecraft

　　12 - Octopath Traveler II

　　13 - Metroid Prime Remastered

　　14 - Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

　　15 - God of War Ragnarok

　　16 - Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe

　　17 - Dead Space

　　18 - NBA 2K23

　　19 - Sonic  Frontiers

　　20 - Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

　　And here are the top games of 2023 to date:

　　1 - Hogwarts Legacy

　　2 - Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II

　　3 - Resident Evil 4

　　4 - MLB The Show 23

　　5 - Dead Space

　　6 - Madden NFL 23

　　7 - FIFA 23

　　8 - Elden Ring

　　9 - The Last of Us Part I

　　10 - God of War Ragnarok

　　What are your thoughts on the March charts? Any big surprises or things you’re happy to see?