Similar to the month of August 2019, September saw a decline in consumer spending year-over-year. Still, gamers showed support for tentpole releases, evidenced by NBA 2K20 and Borderlands 3 securing top spots in the NPD’s sales charts for September.
Interestingly, but not surprisingly, the decline for hardware sales is pretty steep. In September 2019, consumers spent $240 million on hardware, a 22% decline compared to the $307 million spent during the same period last year. $732 million went to software sales last month, down 4% from 2018, where consumers spent $761 million. Finally, video game accessories and game cards experienced a 7% decline year-over-year. Money earned on this front totaled $308 million, while September 2018 saw spending eclipse $328 million. For September 2019 as a whole, US consumers spent $1.278 billion on games, software, and accessories. This represent an eight percent decrease when compared to the $1.396 billion spent during the same period in 2018.
NPD sales chart is similarly intriguing. The company tracks both digital and physical sales, but the data only takes dollar spent into consideration, rather than number of units sold.
Here is the NPD’s top 20 list for September 2019:
- NBA 2K20
- Borderlands 3
- FIFA 20
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
- Madden NFL 20
- Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint
- Gears 5
- Code Vein
- NHL 20
- Mario Kart 8
- Minecraft
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Spyro Reignited Trilogy
- Red Dead Redemption II
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
- Plants vs Zombies: Battle For Neighborville
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Catherine
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
As always, some of the numbers are tricky, since not every company participates with regards to digital sales. Nintendo, for instance, doesn’t disclose digital sales for its first-party releases. In addition, the tracking on Minecraft’s digital earning only consists of sales on the PS4 and Xbox One. Lastly, Gears 5 Steam sales aren’t represented in the NPD Group’s count, either.
All in all, the list is intriguing. Like UK sales for the month of September, a sports title and Borderlands 3 reigned supreme. Especially interesting for the NPD charts is that Ghost Recon: Breakpoint cracked the top 10. The NPD’s September data counted sales until October 5th, meaning Breakpoint made quite a few waves within just one day of its release. It’s impress to say the least.
[Source: GamesBeat]
