Total industry spending for video game hardware, software, and accessories from Nov. 26 through Dec. 30, 2017 increased 10 percent to $3.2 billion compared to last year, according to analysis from The NPD Group.
Video games hardware sales compared to the same period last year increased 27 percent from $997 million last year to $1.2 billion this year; video games software increased 2 percent from $1.221 billion last year to $1.243 billion this year; and video games accessories increased 0 percent from $734 million last year to $735 million this year.
“Hardware spending in December 2017 grew 27 percent when compared to year ago, to $1.3 billion. Spending growth was driven by Nintendo Switch. For full-year 2017, hardware spending increased 28 percent, to $4.7 billion,” says Mat Piscatella, NPD’s video game analyst. “Nintendo Switch was the best-selling hardware platform in the month of December, while Sony’s PlayStation 4 was the best-selling hardware platform of 2017. Nintendo generated the most consumer spending of any publisher in December 2017, while Activision Blizzard drove the highest consumer spending for the year.”
The top 10 games for the period based on dollar sales in August across all platforms are Call of Duty: WWII, Star Wars: Battlefront II 2017, Super Mario Odyssey, NBA 2k18, Mario Kart 8, Madden NFL 18, Playerrunknown’s Battlegrounds, Assassin’s Creed: Origins, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and Grand Theft Auto V.
