Game sales in the United States reached new heights in 2020, with total spending reaching $ 56.9 billion. That’s an increase of 27% year on year, according to the latest report from monitoring company NPD.
Software represented the vast majority (86%) of that number, with spending on game content reaching $ 48.9 billion in 2020. This included physical and digital games, DLC and subscription on console, cloud, mobile, portable platforms , PC and VR. Software sales increased 26% compared to 2019.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War was the best-selling game of 2020, followed by another CoD title, Modern Warfare. It is the 12th consecutive year that the Call of Duty franchise has topped the US annual charts – a record. Animal Crossing: New Horizons reached third place in 2020.
“In 2020, [Animal Crossing: New Horizons] achieved the highest physical dollar sale for a game published by Nintendo in a year since Wii Fit Plus in 2010, “said NPD VG industry analyst Mat Piscatella.
Looking at the exclusives, The Last of Us: Part II was the 2020 best-selling PlayStation exclusive in the U.S. and became the third best-selling Sony game of all time in the country, following in the footsteps of Marvel Spider-Man and 2018 God of war.
But hardware grew even more than software, with console revenue reaching $ 5.3 billion last year, up 35% from $ 3.9 billion in 2019. Hardware sales were the biggest last year, since $ 5.6 billion was reached in 2011. 2011 was a great year for the Xbox 360, with a number of important titles and the first year of the Kinect accessory – it was also the year that saw the launch of the Nintendo 3DS.
It is no surprise that the best-selling console of 2020 was the Nintendo Switch, followed by the PlayStation 5 when we look at the value rating and PlayStation 4 when we look at the number of units exchanged.
“Annual sales in dollars for Nintendo Switch hardware were the second highest for an individual platform in a single calendar year in the history of the United States,” said Piscatella. “Only the 2008 dollar sales of the Nintendo Wii were higher.”
Money spent on gaming accessories also increased by 21% in 2020, to a total of $ 2.6 billion. Sony’s DualSense Wireless Controller was the best-selling gamepad of 2020, while the Turtle Beach Ear Force Recon 70 Gaming Headset Black for Xbox was the best-selling headset of the year.
The NPD report also highlighted the bestsellers of December 2020, with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War ranking first, followed by Cyberpunk 2077 (for which digital sales were not tracked) and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Consumer spending broke records in December, reaching $ 7.7 billion, an increase of 25% year-on-year.
Hardware sales in December increased 38% to $ 1.32 billion – the highest total for a month in December since 2013. The Nintendo Switch was also the best-selling platform in December.
Here are the top 20 games of 2020 (physical and digital) ranked in dollar sales, data courtesy of NPD:
| Position | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (Activision Blizzard) |
| two | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (Activision Blizzard) |
| 3 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons * (Nintendo) |
| 4 | Madden NFL 21 (EA) |
| 5 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (Ubisoft) |
| 6 | The Last of Us: Part II (Sony) |
| 7 | Ghost of Tsushima (Sony) |
| 8 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe * (Nintendo) |
| 9 | Super Mario 3D All-Stars * (Nintendo) |
| 10 | Final Fantasy VII: Remake (Square Enix) |
| 11 | Marvel Avengers (Square Enix) |
| 12 | Marvel Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Sony) |
| 13 | NBA 2K21 * (Take-Two Interactive) |
| 14 | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate * (Nintendo) |
| 15 | FIFA 21 (EA) |
| 16 | Mortal Kombat 11 (Warner Bros) |
| 17 | Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot (Bandai Namco) * |
| 18 | MLB: The Show 20 (Sony) |
| 19 | Cyberpunk 2077 * (Warner Bros) |
| 20 | Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 (Activision Blizzard) |
* Digital sales not included