May 2022's consumer spending saw the lowest results since February 2020.
As reported by Mat Piscatella, the executive director and video game industry advisor at the NPD Group, in May 2022, US consumers spent $3.7 billion on video game hardware, content, and accessories. The figure represents a 19% decline compared to the same period in the previous year and the lowest monthly spending since February 2020 ($3.5 billion).
The total consumer spending in the US since the beginning of the year has reached $21.9 billion, a 10% decrease from the same period in 2021. The analyst noted that the only segment that saw year-on-year growth in spending was subscription content.
Video game hardware dollar sales dropped by 11% compared to the last year and amounted to $216 million. Spending on hardware also decreased reaching $1.8 billion (down 9%). The Nintendo Switch has become the best-selling console in both units and dollar sales in May 2022. It also led in terms of unit sales since the beginning of 2022, while Xbox Series X|S prevailed in dollar sales.
US spending on video game accessories saw a 7% year-on-year decrease amounting to $131 million, and year-to-date accessory spending was $875 million, down 14% from the same period last year. The top-selling accessory of May was the PS4 DualShock 4 Wireless Controller Black, and the year-to-date best-selling accessory remained Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller.
Speaking of the video game software, Piscatella noted that after finishing the second in April, FromSoftware's Elden Ring was back at the top of the best-selling games chart across all platforms in May. The title also remained the top-selling game of the year.
The analyst also revealed that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim returned to the top 20 best-selling games in the US for the first time since November 2017. Almost half of the game's sales in May came from Steam.
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