Did you miss a session from GamesBeat Summit 2022? All sessions are available to stream now. Watch now.
December saw new records for consumer spending on video games in the United States of $7.7 billion, according to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group. The new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S hardware drove that, but ongoing success for Nintendo’s Switch platform was also instrumental.
“December 2020 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories reached a December record $7.7 billion, 25% higher when compared to a year ago,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said. “Full-year spending also set a new record, totaling $56.9 billion, 27% higher than 2019.”
NPD also revealed the best-selling games of 2020, and you can read that here.
Here are the numbers for December 2020 in the U.S.:
Event
MetaBeat 2022
MetaBeat will bring together metaverse thought leaders to give guidance on how metaverse technology will transform the way all industries communicate and do business on October 3-4 in San Francisco, CA.
| December 2020 Dollar Sales, Millions | Dec 2019 | Dec 2020 | CHG | |
| Total Video Game Sales | $6,184 | $7,702 | 25% | |
| Video Game Hardware | $978 | $1,350 | 38% | |
| Video Game Content (Physical & Digital Full Game, DLC/MTX and Subscription consumer spending across Console, Cloud, Mobile*, Portable, PC and VR) platforms) | $4,732 | $5,806 | 23% | |
| Video Game Accessories | $474 | $546 | 15% | |
| * Mobile spending provided by Sensor Tower |
Let’s get to the software charts.
December 2020 NPD: Cyberpunk 2077 debuts at No. 2
NPD tracks physical sales at retailers, but it also gets digital data directly from publishers. But not every company participates. For example, Nintendo doesn’t share its first-party digital sales, and Activision Blizzard does not provide its Battle.net sales, and Take-Two doesn’t always share its digital sales.
| Rank | Last Month Rank | December 2020 Top 20 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital from the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation, STEAM and Xbox platforms for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 2 | NEW | Cyberpunk 2077* | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| 3 | 2 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Ubisoft |
| 4 | 3 | Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales | Sony (Corp) |
| 5 | 4 | Madden NFL 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 6 | 8 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons* | Nintendo |
| 7 | 11 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe* | Nintendo |
| 8 | 5 | NBA 2K21* | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| 9 | NEW | Immortals: Fenyx Rising | Ubisoft |
| 10 | 12 | Super Mario 3D All-Stars* | Nintendo |
| 11 | 17 | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* | Nintendo |
| 12 | 13 | Just Dance 2021 | Ubisoft |
| 13 | 6 | Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity* | Nintendo |
| 14 | 9 | FIFA 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 15 | 14 | New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe* | Nintendo |
| 16 | 34 | Super Mario Odyssey* | Nintendo |
| 17 | 23 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* | Nintendo |
| 18 | 35 | Super Mario Party* | Nintendo |
| 19 | 26 | Ring Fit Adventure | Nintendo |
| 20 | 19 | Mortal Kombat 11 | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| * Digital sales not included |
Nintendo
The word you’ll see repeated most often in the above chart is “Nintendo.” As the company’s hardware continues its historic sales pace, consumers are also vacuuming up a huge number of games.
“Half of the top 20 best-selling games of December 2020 were published by Nintendo,” said Piscatella. “Animal Crossing: New Horizons was 2020’s third best-selling title, and the sixth best-selling game of December.”
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077’s rocky launch couldn’t keep it away from the top half of the sales chart.
“Cyberpunk 2077 debuted as the second best-selling game of December,” said Piscatella.
And it did that without CD Projekt Red sharing digital sales, which likely made up a significant portion of its total revenue.
Call of Duty
The new Call of Duty: Black Ops — Cold War held onto the No. 1 spot on the NPD chart.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War was the best-selling game of both December and annual 2020, while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was 2020’s second best-seller,” said Piscatella. “Call of Duty ranked as the best-selling gaming franchise in the U.S. market for a record 12th consecutive year.”
December 2020 NPD: Top 10 best-selling Nintendo games
| Rank | Last Month Rank | December 2020 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | 2 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons* | Nintendo |
| 2 | 3 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe* | Nintendo |
| 3 | 4 | Super Mario 3D All-Stars* | Nintendo |
| 4 | 9 | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* | Nintendo |
| 5 | 1 | Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity* | Nintendo |
| 6 | 6 | Just Dance 2021 | Ubisoft |
| 7 | 5 | New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe* | Nintendo |
| 8 | 14 | Super Mario Odyssey* | Nintendo |
| 9 | 10 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* | Nintendo |
| 10 | 15 | Super Mario Party* | Nintendo |
| * Digital sales not included |
December 2020 NPD: Top 10 best-selling PlayStation games
| Rank | Last Month Rank | December 2020 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 2 | 2 | Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales | Sony (Corp) |
| 3 | NEW | Cyberpunk 2077* | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| 4 | 3 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Ubisoft |
| 5 | 4 | Madden NFL 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 6 | 6 | NBA 2K21* | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| 7 | 9 | Ghost of Tsushima | Sony (Corp) |
| 8 | 7 | FIFA 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 9 | NEW | Immortals: Fenyx Rising | Ubisoft |
| 10 | 5 | Demon’s Souls | Sony (Corp) |
| * Digital sales not included |
December 2020 NPD: Top 10 best-selling Xbox games
| Rank | Last Month Rank | December 2020 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 2 | NEW | Cyberpunk 2077* | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| 3 | 2 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Ubisoft |
| 4 | 3 | Madden NFL 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 5 | 5 | NBA 2K21* | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| 6 | NEW | Immortals: Fenyx Rising | Ubisoft |
| 7 | 6 | FIFA 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 8 | 4 | Watch Dogs: Legion | Ubisoft |
| 9 | 8 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 10 | 11 | Forza Horizon 4 | Microsoft (Corp) |
| * Digital sales not included |
GamesBeat's creed when covering the game industry is "where passion meets business." What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you -- not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Learn more about membership.
