News

Mobile and DLC maintained US game spending despite a 23% decline in hardware sales

2019 to-date up 1% to $28 billion

Mobile and DLC maintained US game spending despite a 23% decline in hardware sales

In the US, games spending by consumers increased one per cent year-on-year in Q3 2019 to $9.1 billion.

According to The NPD Group, the overall spending for the year-to-date in the US is $27.9 billion, an increase of one per cent year-on-year.

The slight increase is thanks to the double-digit percentage gains of mobile, digital console content and subscription spending.

On the flip side, there were declines across digital PC content, hardware, accessories and physical console content.

However, the Nintendo Switch still saw good sales, but hardware sales declined 22 per cent in the third quarter to $575 million. Overall, console sales decreased 23 per cent year-to-date to $1.9 billion.

“Thanks to growth in video game content spending across mobile and subscription services, the U.S. video game market has continued to grow, despite cyclical challenges and tough comparable sales from last year,” said NP's games industry analyst Mat Piscatella.

“Growth in digital content spending on consoles has also been remarkable, driven by live service games that are building consistent engagement ties with consumers. These factors have allowed the industry to reach growth, despite challenges in other categories of spend.”

Accessories and best-performing games

Accessories such as gamepads and headsets decreased by three per cent in Q3, having earned $390 million. The overall spending for games accessories also dropped by three per cent year-to-date, making $1.3 billion.

However, despite the drop in revenue, 2019 has seen the third highest year-to-date total for accessories.

The best-performing titles of the quarter include Borderlands 3, Grand Theft Auto V, Minecraft, Fortnite and mobile titles Pokemon GO and Candy Crush Saga.


Staff Writer

Kayleigh is the Staff Writer for PocketGamer.biz. Besides PGbiz and PCGI she has written as a list writer for Game Rant, rambling about any and all things games related. You can also find her on Twitter talking utter nonsense.