The pandemic may be winding down, but console sales are still going strong. Unfortunately, we can't exactly say the same for game sales.
The latest data from the NPD Group show that US consumer spending on consoles in January increased 22 percent from last year, reaching up to $390 million. That's the highest hardware sales earnings since the $447 million total 13 years ago, according to leading games industry advisor Mat Piscatella. The PS5 strengthened those sales, becoming the top-selling console in both units and dollars; the Xbox Series X/S came in at second place.
Game sales, on the other hand, have declined by 2 percent compared to last year to, sitting at $4.7 billion. Pokemon Legends: Arceus debuted at number one, however, which is impressive considering it was released towards the end of the month. The latest Pokemon entry knocked Call of Duty: Vanguard into second place, and Monster Hunter: Rise rapidly rose to become the third best-selling game of the month. Digital game sales (pre-orders or otherwise) were not taken into account.
The increase in game console spending and decline in game spending is likely because the pandemonium over acquiring the current-gen consoles, as well as the games made for them, was extremely high back in January 2021 due to the supply chain constraints imposed by the pandemic. This means many consumers are still eager to buy hardware. "A double-digit percentage gain in hardware spending could not offset declines in content and accessories spending," Piscatella said.
Meanwhile, the sales of Monster Hunter: Rise and other console games like God of War shot up because they were ported over to Steam. According to Piscatella, both games, which were respectively ranked 94 and 146 in December 2021, being featured as Steam launches helped drive up their sales rankings.
As far as game console accessories go, sales on controllers and headsets have declined by 15 percent to a total of $185 million last month. Last year, accessory sales racked up to more than $218 million. However, the most popular accessory was the Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller.
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