Everyone knew it was going to be a big month for video games with the launch of not only the Xbox Series X, S, and PlayStation 5, but with Call of Duty as well. And it seems, everyone was right.
The total spend on hardware in November of 2020 was $1.4 billion, an increase of 58% over 2019. This shouldn’t be all too surprising. However, here are additional statistics from NPD Group.
- Year to date hardware spending reached $4 billion, 34% higher than 2019.
- PlayStation 5 generated the most revenue in hardware and set the record for the highest dollar sales in a month. While the Switch sold the most units (likely due to supply).
- The Xbox Series consoles didn’t break the US record, but immediately sold again (again supply is the issue).
- The Switch has now been the best selling hardware in the US for 24 months straight, a new record.
- Call of Duty was the best selling game of the month (surprise!). It’s the 13th year in a row it has been the best selling game in its launch month.
Our Take
It’s always interesting and insightful to receive analytics from the big firms. This leaves no doubt that the video game market is continuing to thrive and all of the “big three” are seeing tremendous success. And just think…this is before the release of Cyberpunk 2077.