The US video game industry gets back to growth
The decade has been a turbulent one for the US video game industry. It began with the surge in players, engagement and dollars from people wanting to stay connected to family and friends through the pandemic. This was followed by similar declines across all measures with the return to spending on experiences, which happened to come along with new hardware console supply constraints and numerous game delays thrown in for good measure.
Today, however, the supply of new generation hardware has improved and stabilized, blockbuster games are being released, and player engagement patterns have settled into a new normal. This has allowed the market to settle after months of wild swings - both higher and lower.
Below are just some of the factors that are influencing the market today and will be worth following closely moving forward. Circana (formally The NPD Group and IRI) expects the US video game market to finish 2023 having delivered 3% growth, reaching $58.3 billion.
The Story So Far
Hardware did much of the heavy lifting in getting the market back to growth over the past 12 months. Sales of new hardware products contributed $7 billion of the $57 billion in total video game spending in the US market over the past 12 months, 19% higher than the same period a year ago.
On a trended basis, the $57 billion in spending over the past 12 months is 1% higher than a year ago, and 13% above the pre- and early pandemic 12-month period ending in July 2020.
Hardware Supply Flowing
After a period of post-launch constraints that both limited sales potential while also causing planners across the industry to pull out significant amounts of hair, supply of new hardware has become more readily available. PlayStation 5 has been
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