December saw new records for consumer spending on video games in the United States of $7.7 billion, according to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group. The new PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S hardware drove that, but ongoing success for Nintendo’s Switch platform was also instrumental.
“December 2020 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories reached a December record $7.7 billion, 25% higher when compared to a year ago,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said. “Full-year spending also set a new record, totaling $56.9 billion, 27% higher than 2019.”
NPD also revealed the best-selling games of 2020, and you can read that here.
Here are the numbers for December 2020 in the U.S.:
| December 2020 Dollar Sales, Millions | Dec 2019 | Dec 2020 | CHG | |
| Total Video Game Sales | $6,184 | $7,702 | 25% | |
| Video Game Hardware | $978 | $1,350 | 38% | |
| Video Game Content (Physical & Digital Full Game, DLC/MTX and Subscription consumer spending across Console, Cloud, Mobile*, Portable, PC and VR) platforms) | $4,732 | $5,806 | 23% | |
| Video Game Accessories | $474 | $546 | 15% | |
| * Mobile spending provided by Sensor Tower |
Let’s get to the software charts.
December 2020 NPD: Cyberpunk 2077 debuts at No. 2
NPD tracks physical sales at retailers, but it also gets digital data directly from publishers. But not every company participates. For example, Nintendo doesn’t share its first-party digital sales, and Activision Blizzard does not provide its Battle.net sales, and Take-Two doesn’t always share its digital sales.
| Rank | Last Month Rank | December 2020 Top 20 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital from the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation, STEAM and Xbox platforms for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 2 | NEW | Cyberpunk 2077* | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| 3 | 2 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Ubisoft |
| 4 | 3 | Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales | Sony (Corp) |
| 5 | 4 | Madden NFL 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 6 | 8 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons* | Nintendo |
| 7 | 11 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe* | Nintendo |
| 8 | 5 | NBA 2K21* | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| 9 | NEW | Immortals: Fenyx Rising | Ubisoft |
| 10 | 12 | Super Mario 3D All-Stars* | Nintendo |
| 11 | 17 | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* | Nintendo |
| 12 | 13 | Just Dance 2021 | Ubisoft |
| 13 | 6 | Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity* | Nintendo |
| 14 | 9 | FIFA 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 15 | 14 | New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe* | Nintendo |
| 16 | 34 | Super Mario Odyssey* | Nintendo |
| 17 | 23 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* | Nintendo |
| 18 | 35 | Super Mario Party* | Nintendo |
| 19 | 26 | Ring Fit Adventure | Nintendo |
| 20 | 19 | Mortal Kombat 11 | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| * Digital sales not included |
Nintendo
The word you’ll see repeated most often in the above chart is “Nintendo.” As the company’s hardware continues its historic sales pace, consumers are also vacuuming up a huge number of games.
“Half of the top 20 best-selling games of December 2020 were published by Nintendo,” said Piscatella. “Animal Crossing: New Horizons was 2020’s third best-selling title, and the sixth best-selling game of December.”
Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077’s rocky launch couldn’t keep it away from the top half of the sales chart.
“Cyberpunk 2077 debuted as the second best-selling game of December,” said Piscatella.
And it did that without CD Projekt Red sharing digital sales, which likely made up a significant portion of its total revenue.
Call of Duty
The new Call of Duty: Black Ops — Cold War held onto the No. 1 spot on the NPD chart.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War was the best-selling game of both December and annual 2020, while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was 2020’s second best-seller,” said Piscatella. “Call of Duty ranked as the best-selling gaming franchise in the U.S. market for a record 12th consecutive year.”
December 2020 NPD: Top 10 best-selling Nintendo games
| Rank | Last Month Rank | December 2020 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | 2 | Animal Crossing: New Horizons* | Nintendo |
| 2 | 3 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe* | Nintendo |
| 3 | 4 | Super Mario 3D All-Stars* | Nintendo |
| 4 | 9 | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* | Nintendo |
| 5 | 1 | Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity* | Nintendo |
| 6 | 6 | Just Dance 2021 | Ubisoft |
| 7 | 5 | New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe* | Nintendo |
| 8 | 14 | Super Mario Odyssey* | Nintendo |
| 9 | 10 | The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild* | Nintendo |
| 10 | 15 | Super Mario Party* | Nintendo |
| * Digital sales not included |
December 2020 NPD: Top 10 best-selling PlayStation games
| Rank | Last Month Rank | December 2020 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 2 | 2 | Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales | Sony (Corp) |
| 3 | NEW | Cyberpunk 2077* | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| 4 | 3 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Ubisoft |
| 5 | 4 | Madden NFL 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 6 | 6 | NBA 2K21* | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| 7 | 9 | Ghost of Tsushima | Sony (Corp) |
| 8 | 7 | FIFA 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 9 | NEW | Immortals: Fenyx Rising | Ubisoft |
| 10 | 5 | Demon’s Souls | Sony (Corp) |
| * Digital sales not included |
December 2020 NPD: Top 10 best-selling Xbox games
| Rank | Last Month Rank | December 2020 Top 10 Games (Physical and Full Game Digital for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) ranked on dollar sales | Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 2 | NEW | Cyberpunk 2077* | Warner Bros. Interactive |
| 3 | 2 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Ubisoft |
| 4 | 3 | Madden NFL 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 5 | 5 | NBA 2K21* | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| 6 | NEW | Immortals: Fenyx Rising | Ubisoft |
| 7 | 6 | FIFA 21 | Electronic Arts |
| 8 | 4 | Watch Dogs: Legion | Ubisoft |
| 9 | 8 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | Activision Blizzard (Corp) |
| 10 | 11 | Forza Horizon 4 | Microsoft (Corp) |
| * Digital sales not included |
