If you needed any more evidence on just how well the video gaming industry as a whole is doing, no matter how much certain quarters of the video games fanbase may want to get into pointless arguments about who’s “winning” and who’s not, the NPD Group’s newest report is just the thing for you.
In Q3 2018 (I.e., from July to September), customers spent a staggering $9.1 billion on video games in the US. The success is attributed to games such as Fortnite, Madden NFL 19, NBA 2K19, and of course, Spider-Man.
Hardware and accessory sales also saw growth, and according to NPD analyst Mat Piscatella, this increased spending bodes very well for spending on video games come the Holiday quarter this year (which we are right in the middle of right now, as a matter of fact).
“The video game market in the U.S. continues to thrive with compelling gaming content expanding the market, driving higher spending of hardware, accessory, and software,” said Mat Piscatella, games industry analyst at The NPD Group, in a statement sent to GamesBeat. “And with the sales strength of recent releases such as Marvel’s Spider-Man and NBA 2K19, combined with cross-platform titles such as Fortnite, there appears to be no slowing down as we head into the final stretch of the holiday shopping season.”
On the whole, it’s great that, in spite of not too uncommon assertions decrying console gaming, and proclaiming it was at an end, the market seems to be doing just fine now, with three healthy consoles, and a whole lot of great games for everyone to enjoy.