April ends 13 months of US games growth | US Monthly Charts

Today, the industry-tracking NPD Group reported its results for April, showing US game spending has seen it's first month of loss after 13 months of growth -- albeit a dip of 2%.

Last month, the US spent $4.7 billion on games products. Hardware saw the biggest loss, down 30% year-on-year to $296 million.

Nintendo's Switch led the way in terms of both unit sales and dollar sales for the month. Additionally, shortages for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S continue which has limited the sales of both consoles.

As for software, total gaming content spending across console, mobile, PC, cloud, and subscription services was up 12% to $4.1 billion.

March chart topper Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War (physical sales only) was dethroned by the debut of MLB: The Show 21 in April and dropping to second place.

The month saw a number of new releases, as Nintendo's Switch-exclusive New Pokemon Snap was third on the charts, with the Square Enix's RPG remaster Nier Replicant arrived in fifth. Joining them was also Housemarque's roguelike shooter Returnal which debuted at eighth place.

Mortal Kombat 11 ranked sixth place on the best sellers list in April, which is the first time it charted in the top ten since coming in at 9th place back in July 2020.

Finally, accessories spending declined 23% to $168 million, with the PS5 DualSense controller continuing to be the best-selling peripheral of the month.

Last year, the NPD reported April spending on games up 35% year-over-year. (At the time, the NPD's monthly report did not include mobile spending, subscriptions, and other major contributors to the consumer spending figure that have since been added.)

Here are the US Top 20 (based on dollar sales) for the period between April 4, 2021 and May 1, 2021, courtesy of The NPD Group:

*Digital sales not included

^Xbox digital sales not included