May 2022 NPD: Switch leads sales and Elden Ring retakes the top spot
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After a brief uptick last month, hardware sales have again fallen, according to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group. The continued console scarcity alongside a relatively quiet release period appears to have put the industry in a bit of a slump.
“May 2022 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories fell 19% when compared to a year ago, to $3.7 billion,” said NPD analyst Mat Piscatella. “This is the lowest monthly spending total the industry has achieved since February 2020 ($3.5 billion).”
This should not come as a great surprise, though. Following the many huge releases earlier this year, the summer has not seen as many important game launches. Consoles are also difficult to come by. But gamers are still spending money, with the Nintendo Switch leading in hardware sales.
Piscatella said, “Year-to-date spending has reached $21.9 billion, a 10% drop when compared to the same period in 2021. Subscription content is the only category showing year-on-year spending growth.”
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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
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