December 2019 NPD Sales Results
The NPD has confirmed what many of us knew already: 2019’s video game sales had no chance of outperforming the prior year, which saw an astoundingly amount of AAA game releases. Combine the lack of megahits with two of the main manufacturers of hardware (Microsoft and Sony) announcing new machines for 2020 and you get a decline in overall video game sales revenue. The month of December brought in $3 billion, down 15% when compared to December of 2018. For the year the decline totaled 13%.
US NPD VG – Full year tracked spending declined 13 percent when compared to 2018, to $14.6 billion. pic.twitter.com/sVcRHsGDGq
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) January 16, 2020
The best selling hardware in December was once again the Nintendo Switch. It finished up the year as the best selling console across the board, although the PS4 retains the honor of being the best selling system of the decade.
US NPD HW – Nintendo Switch was the best-selling hardware platform of both December and 2019, while Sony's PlayStation 4 finished as the best-selling hardware of the decade. pic.twitter.com/41CZwzJRla
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) January 16, 2020
On the software side there were plenty of new releases and some evergreens hanging on. Nintendo took 10 of the top 20 spots, showcasing just how well the Switch is performing in the market. Here’s the full rundown (rankings based on revenue and * games don’t include digital sales):
December 2019
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- Madden NFL 20
- NBA 2K20
- Luigi’s Mansion 3*
- Pokemon Sword*
- Mario Kart 8*
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
- Pokemon Shield*
- Minecraft#
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Red Dead Redemption II
- FIFA 20
- Just Dance 2020
- Need for Speed: Heat
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening*
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe*
- Super Mario Party*
- Ring Fit Adventure
2019 YTD
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2019
- NBA 2K20
- Madden NFL 20
- Borderlands 3
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Kingdom Hearts III
- Tom Clancy’s The Division 2
- Mario Kart 8
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Red Dead Redemption II
- Minecraft
- FIFA 20
- Anthem
- Pokemon Sword
- Resident Evil 2 2019
- Luigi’s Mansion 3
- Days Gone
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
The NPD Group: U.S. Top 20 Best-Selling Games by Decade 2000 through 2019 ranked on dollar sales #videogames pic.twitter.com/5RmKgISbNi
— NPD Games (@npdgames) January 17, 2020
[Source: ResetEra]
Craig has been covering the video game industry since 1995. His work has been published across a wide spectrum of media sites. He’s currently the Editor-In-Chief of Nintendo Times and contributes to Gaming Age.
