2020 was a big year for video games. Throughout the year, there were a lot of highly anticipated titles and it was the launch of next-gen with the release of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Plus, there was and still is the COVID-19 pandemic that changed a lot of things for everything in the world, including the video game industry. With everyone sheltering in place, a lot of people turned to video games and it led to a record-breaking year. The latest NPD report for December and the whole of 2020 reveals that a new record was set in video game spending at $56.9 billion. Hardware sales reached $5.3 billion, the highest since 2011. Video game spending increased 27 % and hardware sales increased 35 % compared to 2019.
One of the biggest companies last year was Nintendo. The pandemic affected every company in the industry but it affected Nintendo the most. The company’s profits soared to over 50%. This happened early in the year and the huge success of Animal Crossing: New Horizons was a big reason why. The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling hardware of 2020, beating out PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S in terms of both dollar sales and units sold. PlayStation 5 was the second-best in terms of dollar sales and PS4 came in second in terms of units sold. Annual dollar sales of the Nintendo Switch hardware were the second-highest for a platform in U.S. history. The Nintendo Wii is first with its 2008 dollar sales. Plus, Nintendo published 10 of the top 20 best-selling games of 2020 in December with Animal Crossing New Horizons, Mario Kart 8: Deluxe, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Super Mario Odyssey, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Party , and Ring Fit Adventure making the list.
Two Call of Duty games, Black Ops: Cold War and Modern Warfare topped the list of the top 20 best-selling games at first and second place. This puts Call of Duty as the best selling game franchise in the U.S. for a record 12th straight year.