Gamers didn’t have a lot of new releases to pick up from retailers last month, and that dragged the industry down a little bit.
Consumers spent only $480.1 million on new gaming-related hardware, software, and accessories in July, according to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group. That’s down 14 percent from $559.1 million during the same period in 2015. Just like in June, hardware, software, and accessories all lost ground in year-over-year comparisons.
Here are the U.S. revenues for new products sold at retail and through digital stores for NPD’s participating publishers. Console numbers include portable and sales from PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. PC is physical game sales and Steam digital download sales.
Hardware July 2016: $141.3 million (down 30 percent) July 2015: $202.1 million
Console Software July 2016: $210.3 million (down 5 percent) July 2015: $221.2 million
PC game software July 2016: $11.4 million (down 12 percent) July 2015: $12.9 million
Accessories July 2016: $117.1 million (down 5 percent) July 2015: $122.9 million
“After 33 months since the launches of the PS4 and the Xbox One, the combined cumulative hardware sales for these two consoles exceed the sales of their predecessors by 41 percent at the same point of their lifecycles,” NPD analyst Sam Naji said.
Despite the two consoles’ performance, July’s best-selling game system was actually the 3DS. Nintendo partly credits the “widespread positive public reception” for Pokemon Go for the handheld’s success. Pokemon Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby combined to sell over 80 percent more copies year-over-year, and Pokemon X and Y saw a jump in sales of almost 200 percent more than July 2015. Additionally, the 3DS’ Monster Hunter Generations was the top seller last month on a per-platform basis.
Best-Selling Games in the US for July 2016:
Grand Theft Auto V
Overwatch (does not include digital PC sales)
Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Monster Hunter Generations (does not include digital sales)
Call of Duty: Black Ops III
Minecraft (does not include digital sales)
NBA 2K16
Doom (does not include digital sales)
Destiny: The Taken King
