NPD Group specialists analyzed the June indicators of the US gaming market. Compared to last year, sales of gaming hardware jumped by 52%, with the inexpensive retro NES Classic console selling best.
Recall that last year, due to the limited volume of copies, the NES Classic Edition mini-console very quickly became a shortage. Its sales were resumed only this year – this is obviously why the classic console has overtaken the modern ones in terms of sales.
A few more facts about console sales:
- In total, Americans spent $ 350 million on the console in June 2018.;
- Sony earns the most on gaming equipment;
- Microsoft’s performance is also good: revenue from the sale of Xbox One has doubled in a year;
- Nintendo Switch sells one and a half times better than last year;
- even portable consoles have increased sales, but only by 7%.
Game Sales
One of the main trends of this year is the success of new versions of old releases (Game of the Year edition, remasters, etc.). Special editions of games from previous years are selling 150% better than a year ago, and sales of new products, on the contrary, have fallen slightly.
Mario Tennis Aces, exclusive to the Nintendo Switch, earned the most in June. Its sales rate is better than any previous game in the Mario Tennis series. In the overall top sales Mario Tennis Aces has overtaken even God of War.
The June top 10 looks like this:
Note that for the whole of June, Nintendo had only two game releases for Switch – apart from Mario Tennis Aces, only the Sushi Striker puzzle: The Way of Sushido was released. So the public’s interest in the new Mario title is quite understandable, even if critics found the game far from perfect (Metacritic rating 75/100).
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