Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Video game industry continues success with massive second quarter

Don Reisinger
By

The video game industry scored massive revenue gains during the second quarter and there are signs its earnings will continue to soar for the foreseeable future.

Recommended Videos

American consumers spent $11.6 billion on video game hardware, software, and accessories during the second quarter, a gain of 30% compared to the same period last year, market researcher NPD reported on Monday, August 10. The spending also topped the $10.9 billion Americans spent in the first quarter of 2020.

Related

During the period, players spent $10.2 billion on “video game content,” which includes both video game sales, as well as downloadable content in digital marketplaces. The researcher said all three game consoles — Nintendo Switch, Sony’s PlayStation 4, and Microsoft’s Xbox One — saw sales jump 57% year-over-year to $848 million. Sales of accessories, including gamepads, steering wheels, and headsets, spiked by 50% to $584 million.

NPD didn’t provide unit sales data but said that <em>Animal Crossing: New Horizons</em>, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Candy Crush Saga were among the quarter’s top sellers. <em>The Last of Us: Part II</em>, which hit store shelves at the end of the quarter on June 17, also landed in NPD’s list of the top-selling games.

While the video game industry has grown steadily over the years, its second-quarter performance was primarily driven by the pandemic and people being stuck at home with little else to do. Indeed, NPD said the industry expanded last quarter with help from both veteran gamers who are playing more and new players who just started playing games.

“Today, we have more video game players playing for more hours, while spending more in the process,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said in a statement. “During the pandemic, many have turned to video games not only to keep them preoccupied, but also to stay in touch with family and friends. This has resulted in an acceleration of what were already established trends towards heightened video game player engagement.”

NPD expects similarly impressive sales figures for the third quarter and beyond. With the pandemic showing no signs of abating, people increasingly turning to games, and a new console generation just months away, the future looks bright for the industry.

“I don’t see any signs of this slowing down,” said Piscatella.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger
Don Reisinger is a freelance technology, video game, and entertainment journalist. He has been writing about the world of…
The best video game villains of all time
Young Sephiroth standing in fire.

A hero is only as great as the villain they are up against, and you can't find stronger antagonists than in video games. Only through games can you feel a true, personal rivalry and a drive to overcome a villain, as you become far more attached to the world and characters. The best villains aren't just an ambiguous force or cartoonish monster doing evil for evil's sake -- they're just as deep and complex as the hero. They have personality, goals, and agency within the narrative that inspires you to overcome all the challenges ahead to take them down. Some have been around for decades, while others made a single, powerful impression, but all the best villains stood out for one reason or another. It was a tough challenge to narrow it down, but here are the best video game villains of all time.
Sephiroth

It could easily be argued that we wouldn't have gotten all the expanded Final Fantasy 7 content and games if it weren't for Sephiroth. Yes, Cloud and his buster sword are iconic, but when people think of FF7, they think of the man with long, silver hair and an absurdly long katana standing in the flames of a burning village. Being visually striking and intimidating is one thing, but this was many players' first time experiencing a villain who actually impacted their game. We won't spoil it directly since the trilogy of remake titles is ongoing, but Sephiroth cemented his place among the most love-to-hate villains partway through the adventure with a single thrust of his sword.
Vaas

Read more
The video game industry flew too close to the sun in 2023. Now, its crashing back to Earth
The crew of the Saints Row reboot stands against a wall.

For several years, some relevant mergers, acquisitions, or studio formations were happening in the video game industry every month. Companies like Microsoft, Sony, and Embracer Group went on shopping sprees, and studios many of us never expected to be acquired, like ZeniMax Media, Bungie, and Gearbox Entertainment, were respectively bought up. These companies seemed dead set on infinite growth, with no plans to stop. That tone changed throughout 2023.

Microsoft completed its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, but only after an arduous legal process that enflamed the console wars, leaked information the industry historically kept secret, and forced Microsoft to deemphasize its cloud gaming efforts. Meanwhile, layoffs have rocked the industry, with the biggest culprit being Embracer Group, which has been shedding studios and workers ever since a deal meant to sustain its growth fell through. As 2023 wraps up, the game industry is in a much less bullish state than it was just 12 months ago, and the people paying for that are the developers who make the games.
Infinite growth
As with any industry, mergers and acquisitions have always been part of the game industry. That goes back to 1978, when Atari sold itself to Warner Communications. But over the last decade, as gaming has become much more accepted and relevant in the mainstream, the amount of deals and prices attached to them have only increased. Microsoft frequently invested in the game industry, peaking quantity-wise with the announcement of six studio acquisitions throughout 2018.

Read more
Video game voice actors are poised for a strike after successful SAG-AFTRA vote
The Last of Us 2 Ellie Gun

Hollywood is currently in the middle of a significant actors strike, and the same could potentially happen soon in the video game industry as well. SAG-AFTRA members voted to authorize a game actors strike, setting the stage for a potential disruption in the industry if current negotiations with publishers don't go according to plan.

The SAG-AFTRA union represents actors across all entertainment mediums, but the strike that's been active since July excluded the game industry. The game industry's separate contract with the actors' union is almost up, so SAG-AFTRA is in the heat of negotiations with companies like Activision Blizzard, Take-Two Interactive, and WB Games to create a better contract for its workers. If those negotiations fail, video game actors can go on strike to disrupt the game industry for failing to adequately meet their demands. A strike like that needs to be authorized by a majority of the union's members, though; thankfully for SAG-AFTRA, internal support was overwhelming.
A total of 34,687 SAG-AFTRA members cast ballots in a vote to authorize a strike, and 98.32% of them supported a strike authorization, according to a SAG-AFTRA press release. This doesn't mean video game actors are now on strike, just that they're willing to go on one if negotiations fail. SAG-AFTRA says these game studios "have refused to offer acceptable terms on some of the issues most critical to our members, including wages that keep up with inflation, protections around exploitative uses of artificial intelligence, and basic safety precautions," which is why a strike was organized.
SAG-AFTRA and these video game companies are in bargaining sessions between today and September 28, so we'll soon see what impact this successful strike authorization vote will have on the video game industry. 

Read more