January 2022 NPD: Pokémon tops the charts

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Gaming hardware rebounded in January after a supply-constrained December, but total tracked industry sales were down 2% year-over-year, according to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group. That is largely due to lower spending on software and accessories compared to January 2021 when the frenzy to acquire new consoles, controllers, and games for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X generation was at its height. Here are the full results for January 2022 NPD:

“January 2022 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories declined 2% when compared to a year ago, to $4.7 billion,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said. “A double-digit percentage gain in hardware spending, driven by PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles, could not offset declines in content and accessories spending.”

These numbers represent a natural self-selecting decline in enthusiasm for spending on new games and accessories. Only the most determined fans were able to track down new-gen PS5 and Xbox hardware in January 2021, and those are the same people who are more likely to pick up a new controller and a couple extra games with their new device.

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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 sold. And this is for full-game sales and does not include in-game