This the NPD data for 2020, which covers the sales for United States. The gaming industry generated $56.905 billion, up 27% from 2019[1]. This is the first year to be primarily impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic that started in March 2020.
This year marked a number of changes for NPD's tracking as well. They started tracking microtransactions, subscriptions and mobile spend, tracked by Sensor Tower. This replaced Video Game Software with Video Game Content. Additionally, packed-in software was moved from accessories to video game content. Of the major publishers, Take-Two started to not include their digital sales publicly, shifting their titles down significantly.
Overall[]
A total of $5.31 billion for Hardware. This is up 35% from 2019. For software, there was a total of $48.98 billion, up 26% from from 2019. For Accessories, there was a total of $2.617 billion, up 21% from 2019.
Monthly Performance[]
Month | Hardware | Software | Accessories | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|
January | $131m | $3.06b | $128m | $3.32b |
February | $184m | $3.07b | $138m | $3.40b |
March | $463m | $4.06b | $238m | $4.76b |
April | $420m | $4.08b | $219m | $4.72b |
May | $233m | $3.96b | $154m | $4.34b |
June | $189m | $4.29b | $209m | $4.69b |
July | $166m | $3.25b | $170m | $3.59b |
August | $229m | $2.94b | $166m | $3.33b |
September | $277m | $3.84b | $191m | $4.31b |
October | $259m | $3.43b | $148m | $3.84b |
November | $1.41b | $5.24b | $314m | $6.97b |
December | $1.35b | $5.81b | $546m | $7.70b |
Total | $5.307b | $48.981b | $2.617b | $56.905b |
Since the tracking changed in July, the recorded numbers for January to June are based on the reports in 2021.
Lists[]
*means no Digital Data
** means no data from certain storefronts such as Battle.net
Overall Top 20[]
- Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
- Madden NFL 21
- Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
- The Last of Us: Part II
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe*
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars*
- Final Fantasy VII: Remake
- Marvel’s Avengers
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- NBA 2K21*
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
- FIFA 21
- Mortal Kombat 11
- Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
- MLB: The Show 20
- Cyberpunk 2077*
- Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2
Playstation[]
- Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- The Last of Us: Part II
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Madden NFL 21
- Final Fantasy VII: Remake
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
- MLB: The Show 20
- Marvel's Avengers
Xbox[]
- Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
- Madden NFL 21
- Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
- Marvel's Avengers
- NBA 2K21*
- FIFA 21
- Cyberpunk 2077*
- Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2
Switch[]
There is no digital data for Nintendo-published games
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
- Mario Kart 8: Deluxe*
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars*
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
- Ring Fit Adventure
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe*
- Luigi's Mansion 3*
- Super Mario Party*
- Super Mario Odyssey*
2024 update[]
In January 2024, Circana published revised rankings for the year based on revenue. It does include digital for members of the Digital Leader Panel, including companies such as Take Two and Bethesda, which were not members at the time.[2]
- Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
- NBA 2K21
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons*
- Madden NFL 21
- Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
- The Last of Us: Part II
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Doom Eternal
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe*
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars*
- Final Fantasy VII: Remake
- Marvel’s Avengers
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Minecraft
- NBA 2K20
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
- FIFA 21
- Red Dead Redemption II