The NPD Group today released its report for February 2018 game and hardware sales in the United States, and among the noteworthy takeaways is that the Nintendo Switch continues to sell incredibly well. NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said in a statement that the Switch, over its first 12 months on the market, has reached the `highest installed base for a console platform in history.` What that sounds like is that, over its first year, Nintendo`s hybrid console is selling better than the PS4 and Xbox One over their respective first years.It`s not a big surprise, though. After all, the Switch was the top-selling console in US history over its first 10 months. Nintendo hasn`t said exactly how many Switch units it has sold in the US or other parts of the world specifically. Globally, the Switch has sold 14.86 million units worldwide as of December 31, according to Nintendo`s own public data.For February, Sony`s PS4 was the best-selling console of the month and it is still the best-selling console so far this year. In total, hardware spending in the US reached $316 million, which is up by 55 percent. NPD said the growth was driven by Switch and Xbox One sales. Another notable takeaway is that February`s total hardware spending was the highest for a February since February 2014 ($345 million).Turning to game sales, Monster Hunter: World was the month`s best-selling game, pushing its win streak to two months at No. 1. Call of Duty: WWII was No. 2 for February, while NBA 2K18, GTRA V, and Shadow of the Colossus made up the rest of the top five in that order. Other interesting takeaways is that Mario Kart 8 is back at No. 1 for the Switch-specific chart for the first time since May 2017. Additionally, Nintendo was the biggest game publisher based on dollar sales for the month.The Accessories and Gamecards category, meanwhile, saw sales jump 35 percent to $282 million. That`s a new record for February in NPD`s history, beating the previous record of $262 million from February ...
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