Now that the holiday period has officially ended, the NPD Group has shared information about the top-selling systems, software, and accessories of December and 2019. On the hardware front, Nintendo had another good year in the US.
The Switch was the best-selling hardware of December and finished as the best-seller of 2019. The Switch Pro Controller was also the best-selling accessory of 2019. Despite Nintendo dominating the year, Sony's PlayStation 4 was the best-selling console of the decade and its controller – the DualShock 4 – was the best-selling accessory of the decade.
Here's a nice graphic, breaking it all down:
Despite the success of the Switch in 2019, hardware spending in the month of December declined when compared to the sales in December 2018 and annual hardware spending also dropped. Switch gains weren't enough to offset these declines, either:
Hardware spending in December 2019 declined 17 percent when compared to a year ago, to $973 million. Annual hardware spending fell 22 percent, to $3.9 billion. Nintendo Switch gains could not offset declines across other platforms.
Spending on "accessories and game cards" fell by 14% (down to $869 million) compared to the previous December, and annually, sales on cards and accessories dropped by 7% (down to $4.1 billion). All up, the amount spent on video game hardware, software, accessories and game cards in December 2019, was a total of $3.0 billion – 15% less compared to spending a year ago. Year over year, spending dropped by 13% (dropping to $14.5 billion).
Earlier this month, NPD industry analyst Mat Piscatella noted how the video game industry, in general, could potentially see a hardware sales decline as the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One end their life cycles.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 19
Makes sense the pro controller sold so well, it's pretty solid.
Unlike the those Joy-cons...
The Switch practically has no competition right now. Is the PS4 supposed to sell more units in a year when pretty much anyone who wants it already has it? Xbox One? Yeah, right. Good to see Switch is selling well and I hope 2020 is even better for Nintendo (and for Switch users).
While I’m glad to see Nintendo doing so well, it would be exciting if they were “kicking ass and taking names” while the PS4 was in its prime.
@outsider83 They kind of were actually. The launch year of the Switch was in the middle of the PS4s lifetime, and 2017 still managed to be an incredible year for Nintendo.
@Kevember Xbox actually does pretty well in the US. In fact just about every friend of mine IRL who plays games is gaming on Xbox. I don't know why that is but that is definitely the way it is.
@JayJ that's a limited sample size. Not saying that you don't have 10,000 friends but these numbers are covering more quantitative data.
That the PS4 and Xbone are at the end of their lives does not discount the success of the Switch. People aren't buying the Switch because they are tired of the other options - not from anything I've seen or heard of online or in person.
They're buying the Switch and Switch games because they like the platform and games.
@joezilla83 Kinda funny how that works out isn't it?
@Kalmaro Both my pro controllers have problems with their right stick and I've read reports on it on other forums. It is squeaky, sluggish and gets stuck. Using an air duster helped somewhat, but I think I need to open them up.
I would like to inform a fellow reader somewhere up there that the Pro Controller is indeed solid though it can too suffer from the drifting problem that joy-cons do.
@Kalmaro Except that it has the words d-pad in human history. It would be like having an aviation award and naming Boeing 737 MAX best airplane of the year, when clearly its far from the truth.
And this without a pro model hahahaha go Nintendo!
Good job Nintendo
@TheKillerTofu It would be like having an aviation award and naming Boeing 737 MAX best airplane of the year, when clearly its far from the truth.
You need to find a new line of work here.
@TheKillerTofu Referencing one of the worst incidents in recent aviation history out of context really isn't necessary here and isn't respectful towards those who lost their lives.
@Matthew010 : They may have lost their lives. But its not about them. its about humour while making a comparison, which you never seem to have had. The claim the pro controller is the best accessory is at best outrageous, which my comparison had to be in order to drive home the point. but then again, you dont seem to be the type interested in having fun.
@TheKillerTofu I'm all for having fun (why would I play video games if I didn't enjoy them?), but using a comparison to the MAX crashes "as fun" really isn't funny. If you knew anybody on board either of those planes, I bet you wouldn't have made that comparison, so show a bit lf sympathy towards people who may well have known someone on board.
I am not by any means trying to say the Pro Controller is the best accessory - it's not, the D-Pad really could be better, but it's most definitely not the worst.
Neat numbers, but where are the actual UNIT numbers?
Well...it was expected. SWITCH is on a middle of his life. But in this year we already will see PS5 ans Xbox series X. So, I think, that SWITCH sales will dropped in 2020.
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