The NPD Group: U.S. Consumer Spend on Video Game Products

Continues to Break Records

Second Quarter Spending Reaches Highest Total in U.S. History 

Port Washington, NY, August 10, 2020 –  According to the Q2 2020 Games Market Dynamics: U.S.* report from The NPD Group, overall total industry consumer spending on video gaming in the U.S. reached a second quarter (April – June) record $11.6 billion, an increase of 30% when compared to the same time period last year, and a 7% increase over the first quarter 2020 (January – March) record $10.9 billion.

Sales of video game content reached $10.2 billion in the second quarter, up 28 percent when compared to a year ago. Gains were seen across new physical content, digital console and PC content, mobile and subscription spending. Strong growth across Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One led to an overall hardware category sales increase of 57% to $848 million. Sales of video game accessories including gamepads, headsets, steering wheels and other peripherals increased 50% to $584 million.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Warzone, Candy Crush Saga, Candy Crush Soda Saga, Final Fantasy VII: Remake, Grand Theft Auto V, Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, Minecraft, NBA 2K20, Pokémon Go and The Last of Us: Part II were among the best-performing titles of the second quarter.

“Today, we have more video game players playing for more hours, while spending more in the process; and what gamers old and new are discovering is an industry that has a wide array of experiences available to them regardless of device and budget,” said Mat Piscatella, games industry analyst at The NPD Group. “During the pandemic, many have turned to video games not only to keep them preoccupied, but also to stay in touch with family and friends. This has resulted in an acceleration of what were already established trends towards heightened video game player engagement. I don’t see any signs of this slowing down.”

Methodology: Games Market Dynamics: U.S. provides a comprehensive measure of the consumer spend on video games in the U.S. including purchases of video games hardware, content, and accessories. It is released on a quarterly basis and provides insight and trending into the broader consumer spend in the video game industry. This assessment of the broader consumer spend on the industry utilizes NPD’s monthly POS tracking services as well as consumer data from other NPD trackers, monitors, and reports.

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*Accessory sales exclude game cards

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About The NPD Group, Inc.
NPD offers data, industry expertise, and prescriptive analytics to help our clients grow their businesses in a changing world. Over 2,000 companies worldwide rely on us to help them measure, predict, and improve performance across all channels, including brick-and-mortar and e-commerce. We have offices in 27 cities worldwide, with operations spanning the Americas, Europe, and APAC. Practice areas include apparel, appliances, automotive, beauty, books, B2B technology, consumer technology, e-commerce, fashion accessories, food consumption, foodservice, footwear, home, juvenile products, media entertainment, mobile, office supplies, retail, sports, toys, video games, and watches. For more information, visit npd.com. Follow us on Twitter: @npdgroup @npdgames