Monster Hunter: Rise and God of War leap up the January NPD charts with PC ports

Meanwhile, Pokemon Legends: Arceus secures the top spot

The NPD numbers for January 2022 are out, and Pokemon Legends: Arceus is the frontrunner of the month. But while Nintendo’s series rises to the top, two ports show why more formerly console-exclusive games are getting PC ports these days.

Monster Hunter: Rise and God of War (2018) both hit Steam in January; the former on Jan. 12, and the latter on Jan. 14. Both saw pretty significant sales increases in the same month. Rise leapt from 94th on the previous month’s chart to 3rd in January, and God of War moved from 146th to 5th. Not too shabby.

US NPD PREMIUM GAMES – January 2022 Top 20 Sellers pic.twitter.com/2ayC6OuVyi

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) February 11, 2022

It’s not an uncommon refrain. Monster Hunter: World saw a second wind in 2018 with its later port to PC. Horizon Zero Dawn also sold well with its PC port, according to Nielsen’s SuperData (via VGC). So yes, it seems like PC ports are working out well, even if they’re not arriving day-and-date with their console counterparts.

Pokemon had a good month as well. Arceus came in at number one, while Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl held at 11th after a third-place ranking last month. The top games saw a few shake-ups; while Call of Duty: Vanguard is still sitting high up, Halo Infinite saw a decent drop-off, as did Battlefield 2042.

On the hardware side, PlayStation 5 is the best-selling console of the month in both units and dollars. Xbox Series came in second on both. The Xbox Elite Series 2 was the best-selling accessory of the month, however.