Videogame sales showed broad declines again in September, with software and accessories lower along with the now-monthly year-over-year drop in hardware.
Sales fell 8% overall to $1.28B, according to NPD Group. As they did in August, hardware sales fell 22% (this time to $240M), but they were joined by declines in software (down 4%, to $732M) and accessories and game cards (down 7%, to $306M).
Year-to-date, videogame spending is off 6% to $8.3B, driven by the hardware fall-off ahead of next year’s console refresh cycle. Nintendo Switch (OTCPK:NTDOY) is the only platform with sales gains in September and year-to-date.
In software, results were hurt by a tough comp with last September’s release of Marvel’s Spider-Man on PS4, analyst Mat Piscatella notes.
Take-Two (NASDAQ:TTWO) ruled the top of the dollar-sales game chart. The best-selling game for September (and now for all of 2019) is NBA 2K20 (TTWO), which registered the best launch month ever for a sports game (beating its predecessor NBA 2K19). It was followed by Borderlands 3 (TTWO), which set a franchise record for launch month.
Rounding out the software top 10: No. 3, FIFA 20 (NASDAQ:EA); No. 4, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening (OTCPK:NTDOY); No. 5, Madden NFL 20 (EA); No. 6, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint (OTCPK:UBSFY); No. 7, Gears 5 (NASDAQ:MSFT); No. 8, Code Vein (OTC:NCBDY); No. 9, NHL 20 (EA); No. 10, Mario Kart 8 (OTCPK:NTDOY).
Related tickers with after-hours moves: OTCPK:NTDOY, SNE, MSFT, EA, ATVI +0.2%, TTWO flat, T +0.7%, OTCPK:UBSFY, OTC:NCBDY, OTCPK:SQNNY, OTCPK:CCOEY, OTCPK:SGAMY. Retail stock: GME +0.8%.
