Industry spending on video game hardware, software, and accessories increased 14 percent from July 8 through August 4 when compared to the same time period last year. According to analysis from The NPD Group, growth in hardware and accessories spending offset a decline in full-game software sales.
The growth in accessories and game cards is unprecedented, says NPD’s video game industry analyst, Mat Piscatella. Total spending in this category for July, $286 million, grew 49 percent compared to the same time period last year
“This represents a record high for a July tracking period, with the previous record being set in July 2017, at $193 million,” Piscatella says. “Year to date, accessories and game card spending has grown 33 percent when compared to a year ago, to $2.1 billion. This is also an all-time high, significantly exceeding the $1.6 billion generated in the 2016 year-to-date period.”
The top 10 games for the time period across all platforms, ranked by dollar sales, were Octopath Traveler, Grand Theft Auto V, Mario Kart 8, Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Far Cry 5, Super Mario Odyssey, The Crew 2, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege, and Mario Tennis Aces.
This marks the second consecutive month that a Nintendo Switch exclusive has topped the best-sellers chart, following Mario Tennis Aces in June.
