DEC. 2020 NPD: HALF OF THE TOP 20 BEST-SELLING GAMES WERE PUBLISHED BY NINTENDO, SWITCH THE BEST-SELLING HARDWARE FOR THE 25TH CONSECUTIVE MONTH
- December 2020 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories reached a December record $7.7B, 25% higher when compared to a year ago. Full year spending also set a new record, totaling $56.9B, 27% higher than 2019.
- Hardware dollar sales reached $1.35 billion in December 2020, an increase of 38 percent when compared to a year ago, and the highest total for a Decemeber month since the $1.37 billion achieved in December 2013.
- Annual hardware dollar sales totaled $5.3 billion, 35% higher than 2019, and the most since $5.6 billion was reached in 2011.
- Nintendo Switch was the best-selling hardware platform in units and dollars for both December and the 2020 year. Annual dollar sales of Switch hardware were the 2nd highest for a platform in U.S. history. Only the 2008 dollar sales of Nintendo Wii were higher.
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons was 2020's 3rd best-selling title, and the 6th best-selling game of December. In 2020 the title achieved the highest physical dollar sales for a Nintendo published game in a calendar year since Wii Fit Plus in 2010.
- Half of the top 20 best-selling games of December 2020 were published by Nintendo.
- PlayStation 5 finished 2020 as the #2 best-selling console in dollar sales, while PlayStation 4 ranked 2nd in units sold. PlayStation 5 set a new dollar sales record for PlayStation hardware through each platform's first December.
- Spending on video game accessories reached $546m in December 2020, 15 percent higher when compared to a year ago. 2020 spending gained 21 percent, to $2.6 billion.
Hardware:
- Switch: ~2.1m
- PS5: ~0.8m
- XS: ~0.7m
Top 5 Software (solo fisico):
Cyberpunk 2077: ~1.2m
CoD: Black Ops: ~1.1m
NBA 2K21: ~0.8m
Animal Crossing: ~0.7m
Mario Kart: ~0.6m
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|Month| 2017| 2018| 2019| 2020|
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| JAN | | 270k| 284k| 270k|
| FEB | | 279k| 363k| 350k|
| MAR | 906k| 308k| 385k|1000k|
| APR | 281k| 171k| 225k| 808k|
| MAY | 165k| 166k| 215k| 529k|
| JUN | 216k| 323k| 329k| 365k|
| JUL | 222k| 263k| 252k| 340k|
| AUG | 205k| 203k| 241k| 504k|
| SEP | 309k| 259k| 432k| 670k|
| OCT | 280k| 255k| 309k| 736k|
| NOV | 775k|1356k|1428k|1360k|
| DEC |1500k|1770k|2036k|2100k|
+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| TOT |4859k|5623k|6500k|9042k|
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