NPD: December Video Games Sales Inched Up 2%

16 Jan, 2014 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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December marked the fifth consecutive month for positive combined physical video game sales across hardware, software, and accessories

The video game industry saw continued signs of life in December following November launches of new consoles from Microsoft and Sony.

Total new game sales increased 2% to $3.28 billion from the previous-year period, according to new data from The NPD Group. Software sales excluding new releases dropped 17% to $1.3 billion.

December marked the fifth consecutive month for positive combined physical video game sales across hardware, software, and accessories.

Call of Duty: Ghosts (Activision) was the top-selling game.

Not surprisingly, hardware sales mushroomed 28% to $1.37 billion — spurred by recent new consoles releases from Microsoft (Xbox One) and Sony (PlayStation 4). Accessories climbed 4% to $631 million.

Notably, Nintendo’s 3DS topped overall hardware sales in December and for 2013 as a whole. However, with its $499.99 price point, the Xbox One led annual hardware sales on a dollar basis.

The NPD Group’s Liam Callahan said the sales figures represent new physical retail sales of hardware, software and accessories, and account for roughly 50% of the total consumer spending on games.

“When taking into account our preliminary estimate for other physical format sales in December such as used and rentals at $249 million, and our estimate for digital format sales, including full-game and add-on content downloads such as micro-transactions, subscriptions, mobile apps, and social network games at $815 million, and the total consumer spend in December is just under $2.4 billion,” Callahan said in a statement.

 

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