U.S. video game industry revenue hits record high of $13.3 billion in Q3

The U.S. NPD Group report shows that U.S. consumers spent a total of $13.3 billion on video games in the third quarter of 2021, a 7% increase from the third quarter of 2020, the highest third-quarter spending in history.

According to statistics, US consumers' spending on video games includes the purchase of video game hardware, content, and accessories. Mobile and subscription spending, as well as hardware spending, have increased. Spending on game console content and accessories (such as gaming headsets) has declined.

Overall content spending in the third quarter reached $11.7 billion, up 4%. Subscription content was the only content segment to see double-digit percentage growth compared to the third quarter of 2020. Hardware spending increased 60%, but accessories spending fell 1%.

"While the total number of people playing video games is down slightly, if we look at the data for those who are playing, we see that their time and money spent playing games are up year over year," said Mat Piscatella, gaming industry analyst at The NPD Group.

Video game hardware sales were led by Nintendo Switch, which was the best-selling hardware platform in terms of unit sales in the third quarter, and Sony's PlayStation 5, which drove the highest hardware consumer spending in the period.

Data from Sensor Tower shows that U.S. consumer spending on mobile games in the third quarter increased by 9% compared to the third quarter of 2020. This marks the third consecutive quarter that spending in the category has exceeded $6 billion, and the fourth time since the second quarter of 2020 that total consumer spending has exceeded that amount.

“Mobile gaming user acquisition continues to face headwinds amid tighter access to key target data, but the category as a whole shows no signs of contracting in terms of consumer spending,” said Randy Nelson, head of mobile gaming at Sensor Tower.

Although the number of new mobile game users has shown a general downward trend after reaching a peak in the second quarter of 2020, the current growth in mobile game revenue continues to benefit from the influx of a large number of new users at that time.

USA

Video Games