Total Video Game Industry Spending

December 2021 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories fell 1% when compared to a year ago, to $7.5 billion. 2021 consumer spending reached a record $60.4 billion, 8% higher when compared to 2020.

December growth in subscription and recurrent spending across PC, console and mobile platforms offset declines in premium game sales to keep content spending flat compared to a year ago, at $5.7 billion. Hardware (down 3%) and accessory (down 9%) spending fell in December 2021 when compared to December 2020.

Video Game Hardware

December video game hardware dollar sales declined 3% when compared to December 2020, to $1.3 billion. Despite the December declines, full-year 2021 hardware spending reached $6.1 billion, gaining 14% when compared to 2020.

Nintendo Switch was December 2021’s best-selling hardware platform in units sold, while Switch and PlayStation 5 effectively tied for dollar sales leadership in the month. Nintendo Switch led 2021 hardware in both unit and dollar sales.

Premium Game Tracked Dollar Sales Spotlight (Excludes Post Launch Spending)

Call of Duty: Vanguard was December’s best-selling game. Call of Duty ranked as the best-selling video game franchise in tracked dollar sales for a record 13th consecutive year. Call of Duty: Vanguard, and Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War ranked as the top 2 best-selling games of 2021.

Halo: Infinite debuted as the #2 best-selling game of December 2021. Halo: Infinite ranked as the December’s best-selling game on Xbox platforms, while also leading sales among tracked titles on PC.

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl was the 3rd best-selling title of December 2021, ranking 1st on Nintendo platforms for both December as well as full-year 2021. 2021 dollar sales of Pokemon franchise physical software reached its highest annual total since the year 2000.

Resident Evil: Village finished 2021 as the year’s #8 best-selling game. Resident Evil franchise dollar sales reached a new all-time annual high for the U.S. market.

MLB The Show 21 was the 9th best-selling game of 2021, ranking 5th on PlayStation platforms, and 18th on Xbox (digital sales not included on Xbox platforms). MLB The Show 21 is the best-selling baseball game in U.S. history.

Seven of the top 20 best-selling games of 2021 also ranked among the top 20 best-sellers of 2020. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Mario Kart 8, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla, Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Mortal Kombat 11 all appeared on both the 2021 as well as 2020 best-selling titles charts. Mortal Kombat 11, Super Smash Bros Ultimate, and Mario Kart 8 also appeared on the 2019 top 20 best-sellers chart.

19 of the top 20 best-selling games of 2021 on Nintendo platforms were published by Nintendo. The only third-party title to crack the top 20 was Monster Hunter: Rise, published by Capcom USA.

Mobile Spotlight (Notes Provided by Sensor Tower)

December capped off a stellar 2021 for the U.S. mobile game market as the third largest month for spending in the past three years, and the best December on record. U.S. consumer spending in mobile games in 2021 increased nearly 14% compared to 2020.

December was the 10th consecutive month consumers spent more than $2 billion in mobile games across the App Store and Google Play, something that’s occurred 15 times since the onset of the global pandemic, with 11 of those occurrences coming in 2021.

Top U.S. mobile games by revenue in 2021 included Candy Crush Saga, Roblox, Coin Master, Garena Free Fire, Pokemon GO, Genshin Impact, Homescapes, Lords Mobile: Tower Defense, Call of Duty: Mobile and Clash of Clans.

Video Game Accessories

December 2021 spending on video game accessories declined 9% when compared to a year ago, to $493 million. 2021 sales of accessories totaled $2.7 billion, an increase of 2% when compared to a year ago.

The Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller was the best-selling accessory of December 2021, while the PS5 DualSense Wireless Controller White was 2021’s best-seller.