February 2022 NPD: Elden Ring is a smash hit
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Elden Ring is not just buzz anymore. The game is out and is a certified blockbuster success, according to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group. And it is also part of a group of games that led the industry to $4.67 billion in total sales. While that was down year-over-year, it is still up historically over previous years. Here are the full results:
“February 2022 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories fell 6% when compared to a year ago, to $4.4 billion,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said. “Declines were experienced across all major categories of spend, with hardware showing the largest year-on-year percentage decline. Year-to-date spending reached $9.1 billion, a 4% decrease when compared to the same time period last year.”
One of the biggest drags on sales is hardware. Like last year, Microsoft and Sony are both riding high demand for their new consoles. But unlike last year, neither company has much supply to meet demand.
Software was also down, though. And that seems like it is related to the hardware problem. As people picked up PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S in February 2021, they also bought a lot of games. In February 2022, they did the same, but again, fewer people were able to pick up those consoles.
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Let’s get to the software sales charts.
NPD tracks physical sales at retailers, but it also gets digital data directly from publishers. Not every company participates. For example, Nintendo doesn’t share its first-party sales, and Activision Blizzard does not provide its Battle.net sales.
These charts are sorted by dollar sales — not number of units
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