US video game sales for March 2022 might be a little different compared to what was expected, with a 15% drop compared to March 2021 and declines across all major categories of spending. The first quarter of 2022 has seen an 8% drop in spending compared to Q1 2021, with $13,921 billion made to compared to $15,158 billion compared to last year. Basically, there's been a 7% drop in video game content, which are basically games, DLC, and subscriptions, 15% for video game hardware, and 16% for video game accessories.
The reasons for US video game sales dropping are fairly simple: getting a console is still almost impossible and spending has gone back to normal now that lockdowns are mostly a thing of the past. People aren't locked in their houses anymore with nothing to do, and even if they wanted to buy a console they either already have one or still can't get access to one.
Xbox Console sales mark best March ever
The Xbox Series X was the best-selling hardware platform for both March 2022 and the first quarter in terms of dollars, with the Switch leading both categories in raw sales. The Xbox sales mark was the highest for both units and dollars, with the previous record being March 2011 for units and March 2014 for dollars. That's pretty good, and it's somewhat surprising that Xbox is doing that well this March compared to March 2021 when everyone was in lockdown. More Xbox's being made available perhaps compared to PlayStation's? Perhaps, or with raising inflation perhaps the Xbox Series S is a more attractive purchase.
What are the best-selling 2022 Games?
Here are the top ten games from across 2022:
- Elden Ring
- Pokemon Legends: Arceus
- Horizon II: Forbidden West
- Gran Turismo 7
- Call of Duty: Vanguard
- Madden NFL 22
- Kirby and the Forgotten Land
- Mario Kart 8
- Dying Light 2: Stay Human
- FIFA 22
Not too many surprises there, as they're all big franchises releases excluding Elden Ring, which is also basically a franchise release with all of Soulsborne titles releasing beforehand and leading into Elden Ring. It's essentially Dark Souls 4 + open world, which produced a lot of excitement to the tune of 12 million sales so far. Kirby's sales are also nice to see but not really a surprise, as Kirby usually sells pretty well. It's Nintendo, after all, which produces evergreen titles like the eternal Mario Kart 8 on what feels like a yearly basis. It is worth noting that we don't have digital sales for the Nintendo titles, or Dying Light 2 (which we know all told has picked up over 5m in sales) which make it a bit of a different comparison.
As mentioned above, video game content sales are down about 7%, which includes video games, DLC, and subscriptions. This comes down to pandemic spending slowing down, inflation, and general economic concerns as we appear to be hurtling from one crisis to the next. When will we have a regular year like 2019? It doesn't look like any time soon, but we'll have to see.
For more information on sales, Elden Ring, and everything in between, stay tuned to TechRaptor.
