The NPD Group’s report for game sales in the United States for December 2019 is out. Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare topped the charts followed by Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order as total spending on video game software hit $2.984 billion as per VentureBeat. Total dollar sales are down 15 percent compared to December 2018. Video game hardware spending was down 17 percent compared to last year, totaling $973 million.
NPD Group analyst Mat Piscatella stated that, “December 2019 tracked spending across video game hardware, software, accessories, and game cards totaled $3.0 billion, falling 15 percent when compared to a year ago. Full year tracked spending declined 13 percent when compared to 2018, to $14.6 billion.”
Other best-selling titles for the month based on dollar sales (and not total units sold) include Madden NFL 20, NBA 2K20 and Luigi’s Mansion 3. Pokemon Sword, Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Pokemon Shield and Minecraft managed to fill out the remaining top 10. For some games, digital sales were not included while others – like Minecraft – only had digital sales from Xbox and PlayStation console included.
Despite the overall drop in spending, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare finished 2019 as the best-selling title of the year and marks the 11th consecutive year that the franchise has topped the annual charts. Meanwhile, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order became the sixth best-selling title of the year and is now Respawn’s best-selling title with regards to dollar sales. This is despite launching in November.
Check out The NPD Group’s top 20 best-selling games (in dollar sales and not units sold) for December 2019 in the US.
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- Madden NFL 20
- NBA 2K20
- Luigi’s Mansion 3*
- Pokemon Sword*
- Mario Kart 8*
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*
- Pokemon Shield*
- Minecraft#
- Grand Theft Auto 5
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- FIFA 20
- Just Dance 2020
- Need for Speed: Heat
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
- The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening*
- New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe*
- Super Mario Party*
- Ring Fit Adventure
*Doesn’t include digital
#Only includes digital on Xbox and PlayStation