The Quarter between April, and June saw a 30% jump in revenue over the previous year with sales revenue numbers reaching the $11.6 billion mark according to the NPD. The numbers showcase a staggering high number of sales as a direct result of the Pandemic, and the social distancing measures taken by the government to control the spread of the virus.
People confined to their homes are seeking out entertainment, and the gaming industry has come away as the biggest winner of all. Content has been the biggest driver of revenue (by far). Out of the $11.6 billion in revenue, about $10.2 billion was spent on content (Games purchased in both digital and physical forms, and subscription services such as Game Pass, and PS Now).
The spread in revenue between Hardware and Content is no necessarily a surprising development. We are extremely late in the generation and most people who wanted and Xbox One and PlayStation 4 already have one. This isn’t true for 2017’s Nintendo Switch, and the system has sold 5.7 million units between April and June. This, despite shortages of the system have driven Nintendo’s Handheld/console Hybrid to a staggering 61.4 lifetime units sold.
Still, all three companies experienced at least a 46% growth on a year by year basis of hardware sales. Sony is ramping up production of PlayStation 5 units, as the company expects to sale 10 million units of its next generation console during the holidays despite the uncertainty of how healthy (or unhealthy) the economy will be at that point in the Pandemic’s development.
Sony is hoping that the current expenditure trend by consumers lasts all the way through 2021. NPD analysts do not think that the trend (in Video Game spending) will change.
In terms of games breaking sales records, Sony and Nintendo are the big winners, with the Last of Us being the largest (and most successful) exclusive game released by Sony, and Animal Crossing: New Horizons becoming an unprecedented sales phenom with (hold on to your chair) 22.4 million units sold in the quarter.
That’s an astronomically high number that will likely keep increasing, proving that beyond the Switch’s success as a gaming device, Nintendo remains the king of first party software sales.
On another big PlayStation 4 performer, Square announced last week that the Final Fantasy VII Remake, the sequel to the most popular Final Fantasy game in history has now sold 5 million units. Considering that the game had a staggering (though lower than the Last of Us: Part II) 3.5 million units sold during its first few days, perhaps the 5 million number isn’t surprising, and perhaps is a bit of a lower than expected number, though the game has been a massive success for Square.
I wouldn’t be surprised, however, if the newly released Ghost of Tsushima, which sold 2.4 million units in its first 3 days (decidedly less than FFVIIR), but has received a good boost by positive word of mouth from gamers, eventually manages to surpass the number sold by Square’s RPG. It is important to mention that FFVIIR is now on discount on the PS Store until August 19 (now is the chance to grab it for those of you on the fence about the game), and that the game will make it to the Xbox and Windows platforms next year, which should increase the lifetime sales of the title by a substantial margin.
We are still waiting on confirmation for the Last of Us: Part II up to date sales numbers which by my estimation could be anywhere from 6-7 million at this point.