Expenditure on video games set a new record of $ 56.9 billion in the US in 2020, according to a new NPD group report, an increase of 27 percent compared to 2019. Hardware spending reaches its highest level since 2011 at $ 5.3 billion, an increase of 35 percent compared to 2019. NPD classifies spending on video games as money spent on retail and digital store windows to ‘video hardware, content, and accessories. ”
Although the PS5 and new Xbox consoles were released last year, it was Nintendo’s Switch that took the crown as the top-selling platform throughout the year. It was number one in terms of both dollar sales and units sold. The PS5 was the second best-selling console in terms of dollar sales, while the PS4 was in second place in terms of sales units.
US 2020 US NPD WIRE – December 2020 Consumer spending on video hardware, content and accessories reached a record $ 7.7 billion in December, which was 25% higher than a year ago. Spending for the full year also set a new record, reaching $ 56.9 billion, 27% higher than 2019. pic.twitter.com/JFTL7eOEat
– Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) 15 January 2021
Nintendo has also been dominant in software, releasing 10 of the top 20 best-selling games of the year. However, the two top-selling matches were both Call of Duty, with Black Ops: Cold War in the first place and 2019s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in the second place. NP P’s Mat Piscatella notes that the Call of Duty franchise is now the bestselling game franchise in the US for a record 12 years in a row.
It should come as no surprise that in the same year as a global pandemic, people spent a lot of money on mainly home entertainment, especially if it coincided with the launch of new consoles. The increase in spending on video games was already evident in July, when NPD Group reported that spending on US video games peaked in June in ten years.