Not everyone is willing to spend money on video games, given how rough the global economy is. According to NPD Group executive director Mat Piscatella, consumers will likely buy far less gaming hardware, content, and accessories this year.
On Friday, Piscatella shared some insight via the NPD Group’s website, claiming video game consumer spending on hardware and software in the U.S. will drop to $55.5 billion in 2022, down 8.7 percent from 2021. The biggest drivers of this decline include increasing prices of everyday items like food and fuel, along with hardware supply constraints due to the global semiconductor shortage. The latter issue has plagued Nintendo, Nvidia, Valve, and all hardware manufacturers for quite some time.
“In hardware, the video game console market has yet to reflect normalized demand given ongoing supply constraints, particularly on new generation systems such as the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series [X|S],” Piscatella said via NPD Group. “This is not likely to change throughout 2022 and will lead to continued uncertainty for the market.”
The report also predicts that Elden Ring will likely remain the best-selling title in 2022. No surprise there, given how monstrously successful the action RPG has been. Even heavy hitters such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, God of War Ragnarok, Skull and Bones, or even Pokemon Scarlet and Violet probably won’t dethrone Elden Ring.
Only video game subscriptions, such as Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus Premium, are expected to see growth over 2021. Again, not surprising given how popular these services are.
Of course, Piscatella notes that many unknown factors could impact his predictions. We’ll see how it all shakes out before 2023 rolls around.
Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.
