June NPD: The Last of Us Conquers Charts, Sneaks Up on God of War III's Record

Naughty Dog has well and truly hammered a nail in the coffin of comments suggesting that new franchises struggle at the end of a generation. First-party favourite The Last of Us topped the North American sales charts for June, securing the third largest launch in the month since NPD started tracking data in 1995. The critically acclaimed release also closed in on God of War III’s first month tally, which still remains the fastest selling PlayStation 3 exclusive of all time.

Despite this, the overall industry only managed to raise $593.3 million in June, a 15 per cent decrease compared to the same period in 2012. Fading hardware was the biggest culprit for the decline, with system sales slipping by 30 per cent. Sony hasn’t disclosed PS3 numbers just yet, but statements from both Nintendo and Microsoft suggest that it sold fewer units than the 3DS and Xbox 360, which shifted 225k units and 140k units respectively. We suspect that the Japanese giant’s current flagship format wasn’t too far behind Microsoft’s machine, though.

On the software side, sales were down 10 per cent year-over-year, totalling $296.1 million for the period. Outside of The Last of Us, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, NBA 2K13, and Battlefield 3 fleshed out the top ten, alongside a slew of high-performing 3DS games. Elsewhere, Deadpool entered in eighth, while Injustice: Gods Among Us hovered in seventh. We’ve included the full list of movers and shakers below.

1. The Last of Us (PS3)
2. Animal Crossing: New Leaf (3DS)
3. Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition (360)
4. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (360, PS3, PC, Wii U)
5. NBA 2k13 (360, PS3, WII, NWU, PSP, PC)
6. Injustice: Gods Among Us (360, PS3, Wii U)
7. Donkey Kong Country Returns (3DS, WII)
8. Deadpool (360, PS3)
9. Battlefield 3 (360, PS3, PC)
10. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (3DS)