Resident Evil 4 tops charts in a quiet month | Circana March 2023

Resident Evil 4 remains a sales powerhouse, even in remake form, according to industry-tracking firm Circana (formerly known as The NPD Group and IRI). According to its latest report, Capcom’s new version of the incredibly popular title has topped the sales charts in March. The PlayStation 5 also continues to dominate in hardware sales, which are still up compared with 2022.

“Premium game spending fell year-on-year driven by a tough year ago comparable March 2022, which featured 8 new releases ranked among the top 16 best-sellers of the month, as well as the strong 2nd month of Elden Ring sales,” said Circana analyst Mat Piscatella. “Resident Evil 4 was the best-selling game of March 2023, instantly becoming the 3rd best-selling game of 2023 year-to-date. Hogwarts Legacy ranked 2nd in March and remained the best-selling game of 2023 to date.”

While March was not as explosive as February in terms of hardware sales, they’ve still increased since this time last year. Piscatella added, “This is the second highest video game hardware spend for a March month in U.S. history, trailing only the $680 million reached in March 2021.” The PlayStation 5 was the best-selling platform in March in both dollars and units.

March 2023 Circana: Top 20 best-selling games of the month in the U.S.

In contrast with February’s charts, which featured seven new games dotting the list, March only has a few. One title that has made it onto the list after missing it at debut is Metroid Prime Remastered. The game likely missed the February charts due to Nintendo not providing Circana with its digital sales data. As such, its place on this list is solely for its physical sales.

The only game on the list whose inclusion might come as a surprise is LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which rose from 41 to 20. This is probably because the game went on sale in the Nintendo Switch eShop last month. The sale price, combined with the recent announcements of several new Star Wars projects — not to mention the upcoming Star Wars Jedi: Survivor — might have put more buyers than usual in a Star Wars mood.

Resident Evil 4 Remake tops the list

It probably comes as no surprise that the most popular release of the month is also the best-selling. The new remake of Resident Evil 4 made a huge impact when it launched, hitting 3 million units sold within days and 4 million units sold within the first few weeks of its release. That makes it one of the series fastest-selling games so far. This is likely thanks in part to both the name recognition from the original title and the series’ current level of goodwill following the remakes of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3.

While RE4R has dethroned Hogwarts Legacy from its top spot on the list, it still remains in second place, beating out another new game, MLB: The Show 23. Given that there were fewer releases this month than there were last month, there are fewer games to challenge Hogwarts Legacy’s and Modern Warfare II’s dominance of the charts, but two new games in the top 5 isn’t bad.

March 2023 Circana: 20 best-selling games of 2022 so far

Hogwarts Legacy is holding its title as the best-selling game of 2023 so far, now with a two-month lead on the new titles. Still, Resident Evil 4 Remake debuting at #3 on the list isn’t too shabby either. MLB: The Show 23 is once again right behind it, pushing Dead Space further down the list. Most of the games of last month have gone down the charts rather than up — Forspoken, Fire Emblem Engage and One Piece Odyssey have all dropped further down the list since their debut.

However, there is one title that has managed to move up and onto the list is Octopath Traveler II, which didn’t make the year-to-date list when it debuted in February. However, the same steady sales that seem to have kept it in the best-selling monthly chart above also appear to have boosted it to this one. Also, while this isn’t necessarily reflective of sales, this is one of the most satisfyingly grouped lists I’ve seen in a long time, with Electronic Arts, Sony and Nintendo titles all lined up together.