US gaming spending hit a record $60 billion last year

A new report puts gaming spending in the US at record levels, and Call of Duty accounted for much of that.

With the ongoing pandemic still affecting spending habits, the US set another record in 2021 for video game hardware and software spending.

A new report from GamesIndustry.biz uses data from tracking company NPD to confirm that US spending on gaming totaled $60.4 billion last year. That’s an 8% increase from last year, with 85% of that down to software alone. Mobile gaming, digital downloads, DLC, cloud gaming, and subscription pass spend (like Game Pass) totaled $51.7 billion in 2021.

Also Read: PlayStation 2021 top sellers are depressing

Hardware sales grew faster than software sales, up 14% compared to sales in 2020. The Nintendo Switch again led the way, surpassing both the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 as total console sales hit $6 billion.

Call of Duty tops sales charts again for 13th straight year. Call of Duty: Vanguard and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War took first and second place, respectively, while Madden NFL 22 took third place. Pokemon came fourth thanks to the Diamond and Pearl remakes, and Battlefield 2042 took fifth place despite miserable reviews and players demanding refunds.

Here are the top 20 games of 2021 in terms of revenue. Note that some games don’t include digital sales due to lack of data, which might slightly change the ranking. MLB: The Show 21 does not include digital Xbox sales.

1. Call of Duty: Vanguard (Activision Blizzard)
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War (Activision Blizzard)
3. Madden NFL 22 (EA)
4. Pokemon: Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl (Nintendo)
5. Battlefield 2042 (EA)
6. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (Sony)
7. Mario Kart 8 (Nintendo)
8. Resident Evil: Village (Capcom)
9. MLB: The Show 21 (Sony)
10. Super Mario 3D World (Nintendo)
11. Far Cry 6 (Ubisoft)
12. FIFA 22 (EA)
13. Minecraft (Microsoft)
14. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo)
15. NBA 2K22 (2K)
16. Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla (Ubisoft)
17. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (Nintendo)
18. Previous 4 Blood (Warner Bros.)
19. Mortal Kombat 11 (Warner Bros.)
20. ForzaHorizon 5 (Microsoft)

Genshin Impact, a game whose mobile spending alone hits $2 billion and has half the world can’t stop tweeting about it, is oddly absent from this list. US players must have something against gacha games.

Next: Microsoft’s purchase of Activision is the biggest deal in gaming history, and it’s nowhere near it

continue reading

About the author