- Videogame sales rose 2% year-over-year in December, marking their best December in four years and resuming an uptrend after November sales came in flat Y/Y.
- Overall sales rose to $3.4B, according to NPD Group, with heavy accessories/game card spending pacing the gain. Hardware dropped 8% to $1.168B and software spending fell 3% to $1.237B. But accessories and game cards rose 29% to $1.01B.
- For the full calendar year, overall sales rose 13% to $16.67B. Hardware sales rose 8% to $5.105B; software sales rose 7% to $7.092B; and accessories/game cards were up 33% to $4.473B.
- Hardware dollar sales in December were led by Nintendo's Switch (OTCPK:NTDOY) platform, which wraps the year as the best-selling platform in units and dollars (with the highest annual totals since the PlayStation 4 (NYSE:SNE) in 2015, analyst Mat Piscatella notes).
- Meanwhile software hit its highest annual totals since 2012. The dollar sales charts for December were led by Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (OTCPK:NTDOY), which becomes 2018's fifth-best-selling game despite NPD Group not tracking digital sales. It came in ahead of Red Dead Redemption 2 (NASDAQ:TTWO), Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (NASDAQ:ATVI) and Battlefield V (NASDAQ:EA) for December.
- Rounding out the software top 10: No. 5, NBA 2K19 (TTWO); No. 6, Mario Kart 8 (OTCPK:NTDOY); No. 7, Madden NFL 19 (EA); No. 8, Super Mario Party (OTCPK:NTDOY); No. 9, Pokemon: Let's Go Pikachu (OTCPK:NTDOY); No. 10, Marvel's Spider-Man (SNE).
- Related tickers: MSFT, OTC:NCBDY, OTCPK:CCOEY, OTCPK:UBSFY. Retail stock: GME.
- ETFs: GAMR, ESPO
- Now read: Over Easy Comps, GameStop Should Outperform
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