BioShock Infinite is the top seller in the U.S. for March 2013

As many expected, BioShock Infinite led the U.S. game industry in sales for March 2013. It was predicted by many analysts leading up to the NPD Group's reveal yesterday that Irrational Games' first-person shooter would be the month's best-seller. And it's true.

No specific numbers were mentioned, although NPD Group noted, "Two strong launches for the month included Tomb Raider and BioShock Infinite, which were the highest first month sales for games in these franchises.” It's believed that BioShock Infinite sold around 700,000-750,000 units.

The success of BioShock Infinite coupled with the "continued strength of NBA 2K13" helped software sales for 2K Games' parent company, Take-Two Interactive, reach the highest for any March since The NPD Group began tracking retails sales back in 1995. Below are the top 10 best-selling games for March 2013.

  1. BioShock Infinite (2K/Take-Two Interactive)  
  2. Tomb Raider (Square Enix)  
  3. Gears of War: Judgment (Microsoft)  
  4. God of War: Ascension (Sony)  
  5. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (Activision)  
  6. Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (NIntendo)  
  7. MLB 13: The Show (Sony)  
  8. NBA 2K13 (2K)  
  9. The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct (Activision)  
  10. Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 (Namco Bandai)

The most interesting game in that list is Tomb Raider. Despite achieving the highest first-month sales in franchise history, according to NPD, Square Enix considerd the game's sales "weak" in its fiscal year 2013 report. The publisher's main criticism seemed to be with the game's North American sales, an odd statement considering we now know it was second for the month of March.

On the whole, physical software sales for March 2013 in the U.S. reached $554.8 million, a 1% drop from March 2012's $562.7 million.