Market research company NPD Group has recently shared its report on not only December but the whole of 2018 in the US, as reported by VentureBeat, and as noted by ResetEra user ZhugeEX there are quite a few interesting nuggets of information hidden in the report.
The Switch, for example, had the best month in hardware sell-through for any console since December of 2010, which is probably in no small part due to the release of the similarly record-breaking Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, which had revenue of over $200 million USD that month. What's more is that the Switch install base in the US now sits at over 10.5 million.
The PS4 also had a strong year, although hardware sales were down compared to 2017 despite being higher than 2016. As for the Xbox, hardware was up year-on-year and the global install base now sits at around 41 million. We also hear that digital sales are significantly higher on Xbox compared to all other platforms.
When looking at December as a whole in the US, gamers spent $3.4 billion on software, hardware, and accessories in that month alone, which is up 2% from the year before. Hardware made up $1.168 billion of that (down 8%), while PC and console software amounted to $1.237 billion (down 3%) and accessories and game cards came to $1.01 billion (up 29%).
How well can the industry do this year?