May 2019 the worst for US game market in many years

The NPD report for May 2019 has revealed a less than impressive month for the US game market.

Mat Piscatella, Analyst for NPD, has reported an 11 percent drop year-on-year in overall spending on game cards and accessories, software, and hardware to $641 million for May 2019. Year to date spending for the same figure is down by 3 percent year-on-year to $4.7 billion.

Spending on game cards and accessories has remained steady for the month. Year to date spending for the segment was up by 3 percent for May 2019 to $1.4 billion, generating $230 million in May alone.

Hardware spending was the segment that has seen the biggest decline, dropping to $149 million with a decrease of 20 percent year-on-year. Year to date spending on hardware also saw a decline, dropping by 17 percent year-on-year to $1.1 billion. It’s believed that talk of the next console generation at E3 is the cause for this decline in hardware sales, as consumers hold off of purchasing a current generation console in favour of Project Scarlett, or the Playstation 5.

The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console for May 2019, and was the only platform to see sales growth. The product continues to be the best-selling console for the year to date on both units sold, and dollar sales made.

In software, Kingdom Hearts 3 has been pushed down to the second best-selling game of the year by Mortal Kombat 11. This is the second month in the row that Mortal Kombat 11 has been the best-selling game for the month.

Dollar sales for software were down by 13 percent year-on-year in May to $262 million. May 2019 was in fact the lowest May in terms of software dollar sales since 2013. The NPD report also showed that May 2019 was the lowest May for new releases in the past 21 years, since 1998.

Software sales for the year to date are up by 2 percent at $2.2 billion. Apart from the Nintendo Switch, all platforms saw a decline in software sales. However, growth for the Nintendo Switch offset declines from other platforms.

The NPD’s top 20 best-selling games for May 2019 are as follows.