- Videogame sales grew for the second straight month overall in May, with continued growth in hardware and accessories more than mitigating a slight drop in software.
- Sales rose 13% Y/Y to $685M, according to NPD Group. While software sales fell 4% to $274M, hardware was up 26% to $186M, and accessories sales grew 30% to $225M.
- Year-to-date sales are still up across the board (+15% overall, to $4.9B).
- Hardware is up 15% YTD to $1.3B; PlayStation 4 (SNE -0.8%) remains the best-selling console hardware platform, while the single best-selling SKU belonged to the Nintendo (NTDOY -0.8%) Switch 32GB with Neon Red/Blue JoyCon. Accessories spending is up 29% YTD to $1.4B.
- Software was down due to a tough comparable against last year's release of Injustice 2, analyst Mat Piscatella notes. A soft release slate had the dollar sales chart topped by State of Decay 2 (MSFT -0.5%), followed by a pair of Sony (NYSE:SNE) releases: God of War 2018 and Detroit: Become Human. The No. 4 spot was held down by 2018 best-seller Far Cry 5 (UBSFY -1.1%), followed by Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (OTCPK:NTDOY).
- Rounding out the top 10 in software: No. 6, Grand Theft Auto V (TTWO -0.8%); No. 7, Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition (OTCPK:NTDOY); No. 8, Tom Clancy's Rainbox Six: Siege (OTCPK:UBSFY), No. 9, Mario Kart 8 (OTCPK:NTDOY), and No. 10, NBA 2K18 (NASDAQ:TTWO).
- Related tickers: ATVI -1.4%, EA -0.3%, OTCPK:CCOEY +6.7%, OTC:NCBDY
- ETF: GAMR -0.5%.
- Now read: Without Question Activision Remains A Long-Term Growth Story
Original article