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Consumer spending on video games, while still low compared with previous years, is close to what it was in July 2020. According to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group, hardware sales are also increasing, possibly thanks to supplies increasing. In a major coup, Warner Bros.’ free-to-play fighting game MultiVersus has overtaken both Elden Ring and Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga as the top-selling game.
“July 2022 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories fell 9% when compared to a year ago, to $4.18 billion,” said NPD analyst Mat Piscatella. “The total is slightly lower than the $4.19 billion generated in July 2020.”
It’s not huge upswing in numbers by any means. The gaming market has been trickling down slowly for the last several months, with May 2022 having the lowest spend of the pandemic period. According to data provided by Sensor Tower, even the mobile market is on a decline. However, the increased console sales indicate that, at least for the time being, some of the supply chain problems have been ameliorated.
Piscatella added, “Year-to-date spending has reached $30.5 billion, a 10% decline when compared to the same period in 2021. Subscription content remained the only major spending category that experienced growth in spending.”
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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 spending.
The charts show a combination of old familiars and some new titles. Elden Ring and Lego Star Wars remain in the high ranks, as does Mario Kart 8. Some of last month’s dark horses, such as Final Fantasy VII Remake, have fallen back out of favor, though Monster Hunter Rise is still holding on. Some games that were just off the list last month have shuffled back on, including two Call of Duty titles.
In addition to the returns, three new games have jumped onto the list. Besides MultiVersus and Xenoblade Chronicles 3, tactical RPG-meets-dark visual novel Digimon Survive has also made it. Famitsu reported (via Nintendo Life) the game took second place on the Japanese charts for the final week of July.
Elden Ring and Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga have topped the NPD charts since they released, with both swapping off the top spot. MultiVersus is the first game to launch since to upset that balance. According to Piscatella, these sales were driven by sales of the game’s Founders Packs. MultiVersus has accrued over ten million players since launch across all platforms. Warner Bros and Player First recently rolled out the game’s first season, promising several new characters.
Another new game that has made a splash on the top ranks is hefty RPG Xenoblade Chronicles 3. While it didn’t dethrone either Elden Ring or Lego Star Wars from the bronze and silver, it did manage to get fourth. It was also the best-selling game of July on the Switch. Fellow RPG Live A Live only made it to rank 8 on that list, though it is worth noting that NPD doesn’t track digital sales of any Nintendo games.
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Join gaming leaders live this October 25-26 in San Francisco to examine the next big opportunities within the gaming industry such as esports, user-generated content, influencers, and more.
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