The NPD December 2020 report has been released, and it finds total industry spending up 25% year-over-year, and up 27% for the entire year. In December, the market pulled in $7.7 billion, and $56.9 billion for the year.
Hardware dollar sales reached $1.35 billion during December, up 38% year-over-year (yoy), making it the highest total December month since 2013 when $1.37 billion was pulled in.
Annual hardware dollar sales totaled $5.3 billion, 35% higher yoy, and the most since $5.6 billion was reached in 2011.
Nintendo Switch was the best-selling hardware platform in units and dollars for the month and the year, with annual dollar sales the second-highest for a platform in US history. Only the 2008 dollar sales of Wii were higher.
PlayStation 5 was the second best-selling console in dollar sales, while PlayStation 4 ranked second in units sold.
In software, half of the top 20 best-selling games of December 2020 were published by Nintendo.
That said, Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War was the best-selling game of both December as well as 2020, while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was the second best-seller of 2020. The series is the best-selling gaming franchise in the US market for the twelfth consecutive year.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons was 2020’s third best-selling title, and was the highest in dollar sales for a Nintendo published game during a calendar year since Wii Fit Plus was released in 2010.
Cyberpunk 2077 was the second best-selling game of December and the nineteenth best selling retail game of 2020.
The Last of Us: Part 2 finished 2020 as the year’s sixth best-selling title overall.
A look at the best-selling games for December can be found below. The best-selling games for individual consoles for December and in 2020 can be found in the galleries.
Spending on video game accessories hit $54 million in December, up 15% yoy. Spending in 2020 was up 21% to $2.6 billion. Sony’s DualSense controller was the best-selling Gamepad of both December and 2020 in units sold. Spending on the Headset/Headphone segment saw the Turtle Beach Ear Force Recon 70 Gaming Headset Black for Xbox as the year’s best-selling Headset in both dollar and unit sales.
