It's time once again to read the NPD Group, which details the monthly sales in the gaming sector. Like always, this report is led by industry analyst Mat Piscatella and will have data that reflects total content spending on video games, including full-game, DLC/MTX, and subscription consumer spending across console, cloud, mobile, portable, PC, and VR platforms.
This month's numbers are a bit interesting as they show that U.S. consumer spending on video game content, hardware, and accessories reached $4.1 billion during September 2022, a decline of 4% compared to the same month a year ago. The interesting part comes from the Hardware sector, as it was the best-performing segment during the month.
See, in previous reports, Hardware has seen the short end of the stick due to supply issues. Now, the sales for the segment have seen an increase of 19% when compared to a year ago. This constitutes the third consecutive month of double-digit percentage growth for the segment. Improved supply of PlayStation 5 was a primary driver of the increase, with PlayStation 5 ranking first in both unit and dollar sales in September.
According to the NPD Group, the second unit in sales among platforms of the month is the Nintendo Switch, while the Xbox Series placed second in dollar sales.
In terms of game content spending, we see a 7% decline in the month of September compared to the previous year to $3.4 billion. Content performance was driven by a double-digit percentage gain in non-mobile video game subscription spending, which was offset by declines across other content segments. This month's best-sellers are FIFA 23, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle, The Last of Us: Part I, NBA 2K23, Splatoon 3, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection.
Moving onto the Accessory segment, the NPD Group report states that accessory spend was flat compared to a year ago at $174 million. This is the first month since October 2021 in which accessories spending did not experience a year-on-year decline. An increase in spending on gamepads in September offset a decline in headsets/headphones. The best-selling accessory of September in both unit and dollar sales was the Xbox Wireless Controller Carbon Black.
Lastly, the mobile game industry still lags behind, according to the NPD Group Report, as its numbers across several game categories have decreased compared to the ones during the pandemic. User spending has decreased by 5% year over year. Compared to other mobile apps, spending in games accounted for 54% of total mobile spend vs. 60% a year ago.
Usually, September is a bit of a dry month for game installs. This is because of a seasonal slowdown that happens in September. However, the NPD Group report states that this year's decline was sharp, driven by a 40% year-over-year decline in new installs of hypercasual games. New game installs in September were down 3% year over year and at the lowest point since before February 2019.
What could the Winter bring to the gaming industry? We'll have to see what the results for the month are. In the meantime, we'll continue to report on the changes in the industry from NPD Group and other sources. So, stay tuned.
