Genshin Impact leads October digital game spending
Superdata says multiplatform free-to-play game has highest grossing title as the month saw spending rise 14% to $10.6b
Genshin Impact from Chinese developer MiHoYo generated more digital revenues than any other game last month, according to the latest monthly digital spending report from tracking firm Superdata.
While Genshin Impact only ranked second on the mobile earnings chart, ninth on the console chart, and outside the top 10 on PC, its relative popularity across platforms boosted it above category leaders like League of Legends, NBA 2K21, and Pokémon Go.
Overall, October digital spending was up 14% year-over-year to $10.6 billion, according to Superdata. Console spending saw the biggest jump, rising 18% year-over-year despite 2019's total featuring the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. (This year's iteration of the annualized franchise returned to its usual November release window.)
Mobile digital spending was up 15% year-over-year, while PC was up 10%.
Notable new releases included Watch Dogs: Legion, which Superdata said sold 1.9 million copies digitally. FIFA 21 sold 1.5 million units, up from 1.2 million for the previous year's version.
Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time sold 402,000 digital units, down from the budget-priced Crash re-releases of prior years. The N. Sane Trilogy sold 520,000 copies in 2017 while Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled did 552,000 copies last year.
The budget-priced Star Wars Squadrons sold 1.1 million copies digitally in October.
Finally, Superdata said it would begin reporting on the performance of three game subscription services: Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Now, and EA Play. The three combined to increase revenue 142% year-over-year with a 113% jump in subscribers, with Superdata saying Game Pass was responsible for most of those gains.
