MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
US game spending reached a February record last month, reaching $4.6 billion – a 35 per cent increase over the same period last year, according to data from the NPD Group. Year-to-date spending meanwhile totalled $9.3 billion, 39 per cent higher than the same period in 2020.
In terms of hardware, monthly sales increased 121 per cent when compared to February 2020, to $406 million. This is the highest total seen in February since the $468 million reached in February 2011. Of course, these sales will be boosted over last year’s sales, given the November 2020 launch of the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles.
The Switch, as ever, was the best-selling hardware in terms of both units and dollars in February. In fact, unit and dollar sales of the Switch were the highest for any hardware in a February since Nintendo Wii in February 2009.
The Switch’s lifetime dollar sales has now exceeded that of the Nintendo DS, making it the second-best selling Nintendo platform in US history, after the Wii. Overall, the Switch is the US’ seventh best-selling hardware platform in lifetime US dollar sales.
The PlayStation 5 was the second best-selling hardware in both unit and dollar sales. Sony’s latest console is currently the fastest selling hardware platform in U.S. history.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is the best-selling game of the month, and ranks as the second best-selling game of 2021 so far, despite the lack of digital sales tracking for Nintendo published titles.
Little Nighmares II launched as the 6th best-selling game of the month, ranking as the 5th best-selling game on Xbox and placing 10th on PlayStation.
Video game accessory spending totalled $195 million in February 2021, a 41 per cent increase over last year. The gamepad, headset/headphone and steering wheel segments all achieved new February dollar sales records. The PlayStation 5’s white dualsense controller led all accessories in dollar sales for the month of February, as well as 2021 year-to-date.
