Metal Gear Solid V’s $179M day not enough to top sports games

Third-best selling in September

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain made headlines for its $179 million opening day global sales, but here in the United States, Metal Gear was outsold in September by two sports titles, NBA 2K16 and Madden 16.

Of course, those two — and most major sports releases — are regularly, year-after-year, among the very best-selling games of the year. The Phantom Pain obviously did well. And its worth noting that NPD sales data is: 1) just for the USA and 2) only tracks retail copies. So if Metal Gear got a hell of a lot of downloads, it might be better than third-best for the month of September; unlikely, but not impossible.

Otherwise, the PlayStation 4 was the best-selling console for the 8th out of 9 months this year, though hardware sales actually dropped compared to this time last year. NBA 2K16, Madden 16, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and FIFA 16 all sold better on PS4.

September’s best-selling United States retail games:

1. NBA 2K16 (PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3)
2. Madden NFL 16 (PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3)
3. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain (PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360)
4. FIFA 16 (PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3)
5. Destiny: The Taken King (Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3)
6. Super Mario Maker (Wii U)
7. Disney Infinity 3.0 (Xbox 360, Wii U, Xbox One, PS4, PS3)
8. Mad Max (PS4, Xbox One)
9. NHL 16 (Xbox One, PS4, Xbox 360, PS3)
10. Minecraft (Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4)