People are still buying games.
According to a new report released for the NPD and ESA, video game sales reached an all-new record figure of $43.4B in 2018. For doubters in the industry and all those still stuck in the retro era complaining how games are garbage these days (that’s me), people are still buying a ton of games and game accessories. The total amount of goods sold in 2018 is 18% higher than in 2017.
$7.5B comes from hardware and peripheral sales, which is a 15% increase from the 2017 sales of $6.5B. Software and in-game purchases/subscriptions made up $35.8B, which is an 18% increase from $30.4B in 2017. These data come directly from the NPD Group. Mobile figures are covered by another group called Sensory Tower.
Some games released last year, pretty much all the blockbusters, made the most churns in the data charts. Games like Marvel’s Spider-Man, God of War, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 were all huge games that grabbed millions of dollars.
Nintendo also did very well this summer with the NES Classic, Ocotpath Traveler, and hardware sales itself. These numbers were amazing and predictions say that the Switch will lead its competition this year. The Nintendo Switch sold the most dollars in December and was also the highest for a single platform’s sales since the Wii which dates back to December 2009. This made it the best-selling console in 2018 for both units sold and total dollar sales since the PS4 in 2015.
2018’s total console sales total $5.1B with the PS4, Xbox One, and Switch contributing to the majority of sales.
Nintendo continues to beat out its competitors in software sales, with more software sales in 2018 than any other company since 2009. The main contributing factor is none other than SSBU, which was the best-selling game of December.
Here are the top-selling games in December 2018 from NPD:
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
- Battlefield V
- NBA 2K19
- Mario Kart 8
- Madden NFL 19
- Super Mario Party
- Pokemon: Lets Go Pikachu
- Spider-Man
And here are the best-selling games of 2018 from NPD:
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
- NBA 2K19
- Madden NFL 19
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Spider-Man
- Far Cry 5
- God of War
- Monster Hunter: World
- Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
Source: NPD
Writer and journalist for almost a year. Doing this for fun. Learned a lot along the way. I’m interested in businesses and the moves they make, tech and how it changes the world, and of course, enjoy playing some video games! I enjoy console and PC, but mostly RPGs, FPS, and League of Legends.