December 2022 NPD: Holiday sales boost otherwise slow year

The U.S. gaming {industry} completed sturdy in 2022 regardless of it being an otherwise slow year, in accordance with industry-tracking agency The NPD Group. While the year general was down barely — according to the widespread view that 2022 is a “bust” corrective year following the pandemic increase — spending on {hardware} and subscriptions boosted sales to a slight year-over-year improve for December.

“U.S. consumer spending on video game content, hardware and accessories totaled $7.6 billion in December 2022, an increase of 2% when compared to a year ago,” mentioned NPD analyst Mat Piscatella. “Video game hardware spending grew 16%, offsetting declines in both content (-1%) and accessories (-2%).”

In addition to the month-to-month sales, NPD additionally offered its year-end statistics, together with sales figures for particular person video games in 2022. Total recreation sales for 2022 have been down 5% from 2021, a smaller distinction than the corporate has recorded in earlier months. Hardware sales really improved in 2022, which means that the provision chain points from earlier within the year have eased.

Piscatella added, “The December growth brought full year 2022 spending to $56.6 billion, 5% below 2021 levels. Gains in spending in hardware and subscription content were offset by declines across other areas of spending. Factors impacting 2022 spending included continued supply constraints of console hardware, a relatively light slate of new premium releases, and macroeconomic conditions.”

December 2022 NPD: Top 20 best-selling video games of the month within the U.S.

NPD tracks bodily sales at retailers, but it surely additionally will get digital information immediately from publishers. Not each firm participates. For instance, Nintendo doesn’t share its first-party sales and Activision Blizzard doesn’t present its Battle.web sales.

These charts are sorted by greenback sales — not variety of items bought. And that is for full-game sales and doesn’t embrace in-game spending.

The record of best-selling video games — each for the month and the year (see under) — don’t actually comprise any nice surprises this month. Several video games have jumped again onto the record thanks partially to vacation sales and heavy-hitting franchises like Pokémon and Call of Duty proceed to high the record. November releases, Sonic Frontiers and God of War Ragnarök, each proceed to chart nicely.

Out of the brand new video games launched in December, Need for Speed Unbound has charted the very best, beating out Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion possible as a result of latter’s console exclusivity. The Callisto Protocol additionally managed to make the charts. Despite releasing throughout the tail finish of the year, the title launched with out a lot competitors.

Recently, Ubisoft introduced that it was chopping again on recreation growth, canceling three unannounced titles. One of the components it cited in these measures was the beneath efficiency of its late 2022 titles, particularly Just Dance 2023 and Mario+Rabbids: Sparks of Hope. Both titles managed to make the best-sellers record for December, possible partially due to vacation sales.

December 2022 NPD: Top 10 best-selling Nintendo-platform video games within the U.S.

December 2022 NPD: Top 10 best-selling PlayStation-platform video games within the U.S.

December 2022 NPD: Top 10 best-selling Xbox-platform video games within the U.S.

Full-year 2022 NPD: 20 best-selling video games of 2022

Full-year 2022 NPD: Top 10 best-selling video games on Nintendo platforms

Full-year 2022 NPD: Top 10 best-selling video games on PlayStation platforms

Full-year 2022 NPD: Top 10 best-selling video games on Xbox platforms

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