NPD: May 2019 was the worst May for new releases since 1998

June 20th, 2019, 16:57 Posted By: wraggster

May 2019 was far from an earth-shattering month for the US games industry, according to NPD's regular report.
Per NPD analyst Mat Piscatella, overall spending across hardware, software, accessories, and game cards was down 11% year-over-year to $641 million last month. Year-to-date spending didn't fare much better, down 3% year-over-year to $4.7 billion.
Both hardware and software saw overall declines, while accessory and game card spending stayed steady. Hardware took the biggest hit, down 20% year-over-year to $149 million. Year-to-date spending dropped 17% year-over-year to $1.1 billion. These declines are possibly due to the approach of the next console generation, with Sony revealing the first details of its next console last month and rumors of what would eventually be the official unveiling of Project Scarlett at E3 2019.
The Nintendo Switch remained the only hardware platform that saw growth as the best-selling console of May and the continued victor year-to-date both in terms of dollars and units.
Accessories and game card spending brought in $230 million, with year-to-date sales up 3% to $1.4 billion.
In software, Mortal Kombat 11 took the top spot for the second month in a row, which also allowed it to surpass Kingdom Hearts III as the best-selling title year-to-date. It's worth noting that Kingdom Hearts III is still the second best-selling title of the year, despite not appearing anywhere in the Top 20 for the last three months.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...ses-since-1998

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