January NPD: Resident Evil 7 injects new life into monthly software sales

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard was acclaimed upon release as an Umbrella experiment that went right for the long-running survivor horror franchise, simply by putting the thrills and chills right back into it! Now the NPD Group can confirm that the welcoming Baker family members got quite a few you in the end, as Resident Evil 7 proved to be the top selling game at U.S. retail last month. The latest installment in Capcom's survival horror series has so far enjoyed the third-best debut in the history of the franchise, right behind RE5 and RE6.

RE7's sales during its first month at U.S. retail were certainly enough to help buoy January's console software sales overall at U.S. retail, which grew 14 percent year-over-year to $313 million USD. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare dropped to second place in the monthly software top ten, still a fine showing for a series installment which may be the last of its type. Final Fantasy XV fell off the charts completely following its second-place finish back in December 2016, but Square Enix still managed to earn a top-ten title with Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue; we can only imagine how much better the long-awaited third installment will fare once it finally launches!

Console hardware conversely suffered a 19 percent year-over-year decline in sales to $127.1 million last month. On the bright side, the new year starts the right way for Sony, as its PlayStation 4 console maintained its hold as the top selling console at U.S. retail during January 2016.

*Battle.net sales not included