Last year was great for console manufacturers and big game publishers in hot markets like the United States: in addition to the establishment of the 9th generation of consoles, some new sequels to already established franchises managed to raise little better than in 2020. This is the case of Call of Duty: Vanguard.
- Call of Duty: Vanguard and the disrespect for a New Zealand hero
- Call of Duty: Vanguard — entertains, but does not innovate
Check out the December numbers in the second
largest market for world games. The period calculated was the five weeks between November 28, 2021 and January 1, 2022.GAMES SALES COLLECTION IN THE UNITED STATES | ||
December (2020) | December (2021) | Difference | Software: games, subscriptions, MTX and DLCs |
(includes consoles, PC, VR and mobile)
0%
Hardware
– 1% |
·
Let’s take the accessories collection at month: it had the highest percentage drop in the segments presented, but it was a much smaller percentage drop than in November (– 20%) representing a recovery. In absolute terms, December represented a recovery in the segment, from US$ 258 million in November to US$ 493 million.US NPD ACCESSORIES – The Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller was the best-selling accessory of December 2021 , while the PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller White was 2021’s best seller.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) January 18, 2022
Part of the feat came from expensive accessories given away as Christmas gifts, such as the control Xbox Elite Series 2
, leader of the month. Were it not for the semiconductor crisis
, probably the hardware collection in the month would be high compared to the collection of December 2020.
Speaking of crisis, let’s go to the accumulated collection of the north market -American Games in 2021.
ACCUMULATED COLLECTION (US RETAIL)
Period → 2020 2021 Difference Software: games, subscriptions, MTX and DLCs (includes consoles, PC , VR and mobile)
US$ 48.12 billion US$ 51.69 billion ) + 7%
Hardware US$ 5.33 billion US$ 6.06 billion + 14% Accessories US$ 2.61 billion US$ 2.65 billion + 2% ) TOTAL: US$56.06 billion US$ 60.4 billion + 8% ·
In the accumulated, we clearly see the effect of the scarcity of chips: Console makers spurred high demand for new releases in 2020, but both Microsoft and Sony failed to meet North American demand. Who took the opportunity to earn and sell was Nintendo, whose simpleton Switch managed to lead the year in revenue hardware and sales.Even with several postponements and games that flopped beautifully in 2021, the software had a 7% increase in revenue in the US. Here’s the ranking of the best-selling games in 2021, according to the NPD Group:
2021 US Sales Ranking
The NPD Group data considers not only the single software sold on physical media but also
also games sold on PSN, Steam and Xbox Live.- Call of Duty: Vanguard;
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War;
- Madden NFL 22;
- Pokémon Shining Pearl / Brilliant Diamond
*;
- Battl efield 2042;
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales;
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
*
;- Resident Evil Village;
- MLB The Show 21 )
^;
- Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
*
.
*
only physical media The.^ Digital sales not included on Xbox
.Every year there is a CoD and a Madden NFL and both usually conquer the Top 3 in that market. Last year’s runner-up Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War had already led 2020, for example.
Uncle Laguna won’t even go into the merits if Vanguard would be a better game or not. Another FPS, Halo Infinite, was the runner-up in sales in the US in December, but failed to appear in the Top 20 of the year, even because of the smaller sales window to be accounted for in 2021.
The novelty of 2021 was Pokémon Shining Pearl / Brilliant Diamond to achieve the fourth place of best selling games in the US in 2021. Yes, are Switch remakes of Nintendo DS games released in 2006, but managed to make the Top 3 for December and Top 5 for the year. They were also the best-selling games published by Nintendo last year.
2021 Top 20 Video Game Sales.
Not bad for a 3 year old (non-console-exclusive) game. You crazy Mortal Kombat fans are SIMPLY THE BEST!
🎵better than all the rest🎶
via @MatPiscatellapic.twitter.com/aJezeXJjlH — Ed Boon (@noobde) January 18, 2022
Speaking only of exclusives, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales was Sony’s number one and Forza Horizon 5 managed to stay in the Top 20 overall, being the leader of Microsoft exclusive games in 2021. We can also highlight as an honorable mention Mortal Kombat 11, a 3-year-old multiplatform game that still managed to be the 19th best seller of 2021 in the US.
Although no specific number has been leaked, the Xbox Series X|S was the runner-up in sales for the month of December thanks to the simple Xbox Series S, which sold very well. However, it is good to remember that the PlayStation 5 tied in revenue with the Switch in that month in the US, and this one led the month of December in the US.
HARDWARE SALES IN THE UNITED STATES
(2021)
Platform September October November December Nintendo Switch 750,000 units data not available Xbox Series X|S 250,000 units 210,000 units 780,000 units data not available PlayStation 5 420,000 units 320,000 units data not available ·
Sources: Games Industry , IGN US, NPD Group, ResetEra and Venture Beat.Read too:
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