2020 Was The Biggest Year for Gaming Hardware in Almost a Decade

By Roxana Ion

Posted on January 16, 2021

With the global pandemic, is no surprise that home entertainment was a big hit among consumers, not to mention it coincided with some new consoles launching. 

In 2020, Nintendo’s Switch was the best selling gaming platform, on both dollar sales and units sold, while the PS5 was the second bestselling console in terms of dollar sales.

Dec 2020 US NPD THREAD – December 2020 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories reached a December record $7.7B, 25% higher when compared to a year ago. Full year spending also set a new record, totaling $56.9B, 27% higher than 2019. pic.twitter.com/JFTL7eOEat

— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) January 15, 2021

In the pandemic context, a new record of $57 billion of spendings on video games was established in the US. According to a new NPD Group report, people spend about 30 percent more on video games compared to the previous year, while the hardware sellings registered their highest level since 2011 at $5.3 billion.

Furthermore, Nintendo published half of the bestselling games of the year. It’s no surprise that in the last 12 years Call of Duty franchise was the bestselling gaming franchise in the US. In 2020, Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War was the most appreciated, followed by 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. 

2020 Was The Biggest Year for Gaming Hardware in Almost a Decade