NPD: Software sales slump in May offset by hardware and accessory spending

Accessory and game card spending at record high, growing 30 per cent year-on-year

News by Ivy Taylor Contributor

Published on June 21, 2018

State of Decay 2 sales nearly doubled that of the first game, but it wasn't enough to offset a four per cent decline in software sales last month.

According to NPD Group figures for the United States, while year-to-date spending on software is up by seven per cent to $2.2 billion, last month witnessed a year-on-year decline thanks to the May 2017 release of Injustice 2 which "proved a difficult market comparable".

However, consumer spending in the US is still up and continues to grow, while the decline in software was countered by growth elsewhere; combined spending in May across hardware, software, accessories, and game cards grew 13 per cent year-on-year to $685 million.

Total spending on accessories and game cards reached a record high, growing 30 per cent year-on-year for May 2018, up to $225 million. Compared to the same year-to-date period in 2017, accessories and game card spending has grown 29 per cent to $1.4 billion.

Game card spending achieved an all-time high, while accessory spending reached the highest year-to-date total since 2011.

Year-to-date, spending across all four spending categories has grown by 15 per cent compared to the same period a year ago, reaching $4.9 billion.

God of War was May's second best-selling title and now trails behind only Ubisoft's Far Cry 5 which still tops the chart in year-to-date sales .

Quantic Dream's Detroit: Become Human was the third best-selling game of the month which represented a record high for the developer, with sales growth of over 20 per cent compared to its previous launch month bestseller, Heavy Rain

Nintendo Switch software sales nearly doubled year-on-year to 90 per cent, though the figure is a little misleading as the console had a comparatively very limited catalogue at the time. It is also worth noting also that the NPD Group does not currently track digital sales on Nintendo platforms.

In terms of hardware, spending for May was up by 26 per cent year-on-year to $186 million with Sony leading the market for not only the month, but the year-to-date.

Top ten games ranked on dollar sales for May 2018, including both physical and digital where applicable: