Multiplayer Mobile Gaming a ‘Standout’ Success, Says NPD
U.S. consumers spent an estimated $14 billion on videogaming in Q2, up 2% from Q2 in 2020, reported NPD Thursday. It compiled the findings from its monthly point-of-sale retail tracking services, plus consumer data from other NPD trackers, monitors and reports.
Gains were recorded across PC, cloud and non-console virtual-reality content, plus mobile and subscription spending and hardware, said NPD. Console content and accessories experienced declines, it said. Microsoft launched its Xbox Series S and Series X consoles in November, days apart from Sony’s debut of the PlayStation 5.
Videogame content spending in Q2 increased 2% from a year earlier, said NPD. Subscription games were the only content segment with double-digit percentage gains from Q2 2020, it said. Hardware spending was up 12%, but accessories, not including game cards, declined 11%, it said.
Consumer spending in the video games sector remained strong in Q2, “despite changing pandemic conditions across the country,” said NPD analyst Mat Piscatella. The industry faced tough comparisons with Q2 a year earlier, when consumer spending on videogames increased a “remarkable” 47% from the pre-pandemic 2019 quarter, he said. Consumer spending not only maintained the “elevated levels reached a year ago, but exceeded them in key areas such as hardware, mobile and subscription spending,” he said.
Data from Sensor Tower, which tracks mobile app store sales activity, shows U.S. consumer spending on mobile games increased 5% in Q2 from the year-earlier quarter, said NPD: “Multiplayer gaming on mobile continues to be a standout theme.”
Spending on mobile games remains elevated, “showing signs of a continuing lift from the surge of new players who flocked to the category beginning in the second quarter of 2020,” said Sensor Tower analyst Randy Nelson. “We see no indication that spending or usage has diminished as consumers have begun their return to life in a post-vaccine world.” Mobile is a “great platform for games,” said Netflix Tuesday of its initial push into the category at no additional cost to its streaming-video subscribers (see 2107210022).