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Circana (NPD) May 2023: #1 Tears of the Kingdom; NSW #1 Units + Revenue, PS5 #2 Units + Revenue


Rankings

Units: NSW > PS5 > XBS
Revenue: NSW > PS5 > XBS

YTD Units: PS5 > NSW > XBS
YTD Revenue: PS5 > NSW > XBS

Thanks Mat Piscatella!

State of the market
U.S. consumer spending on video game content, hardware and accessories totaled $4.1 billion, a 12% increase when compared to a year ago. Spending gains were seen across Content, Hardware, and Accessories.

Year-to-date consumer spending was flat when compared to the same period in 2022, at $21.8 billion.

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Hardware
Video game hardware spending increased 56% vs YA, to $338M. This is the highest VG hardware spend for a May month since the $427M reached in May 2008. Double-digit percentage growth in both PlayStation 5 and Switch dollar sales again offset declines on other platforms.

Switch was the best-selling hardware platform in both unit and dollar sales during May 2023. Consumer spending on Switch hardware reached an all-time May high for the platform, while unit sales were 2nd highest ever for the platform in a May month, trailing only May 2020.

PlayStation 5 continues to lead the 2023 hardware market across both units and dollars.

Software
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was the best-selling game of May 2023, instantly becoming the #2 best-selling title of 2023 year-to-date, despite only physical sales from Nintendo being included in the best-selling titles charts.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild returned to the top 20 monthly chart in May, placing 13th after finishing April at #28.

Mobile
Sensor Tower reports the top 10 games by U.S. consumer spending in May as: Candy Crush Saga, Roblox, Royal Match, Gardenscapes, Homescapes, Clash of Clans, Jackpot Party - Casino Slots, Honkai: Star Rail, Pokémon GO, and Evony. “Spend trends in May were down slightly (-2%) compared to April. Pokémon GO moved back into the top ten games (by consumer spend) in May despite the price hikes to certain in-app purchases over the past few months,” said Abraham Yousef of Sensor Tower.

Accessories
Accessories spending during May increased 14% when compared to a year ago, reaching $159 million. The PlayStation 5 Dual Sense Edge Wireless Controller Black remains the best-selling accessory in dollar sales for both May and 2023 year-to-date.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Series 1 Amiibo Character Pack led May accessories in unit sales.

Software charts

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Year To Date

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Nintendo / PlayStation / Xbox charts are no longer being reported.
 
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Elios83

Member
They're getting super late with these reports, this is still May.

Double-digit percentage growth in both PlayStation 5 and Switch dollar sales again offset declines on other platforms.

Great for Switch and PS5. Of course Nintendo winning in Zelda month was a sure bet.
Looking forward to see what happens in June with FFXVI.
 

Tsaki

Member
'Double-digit percentage growth in both PlayStation 5 and Switch dollar sales again offset declines on other platforms.' Dammit Stadia! Pick up the slack!
Damn! Nintendo profitability must be through the roof.
Sony took their time with the premium controllers but the Edge controller is quite the success.
 
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To outsell PS5 in revenue the Switch has to outsell it in units by around 1.5 / 1 or more.

Using last months Japanese SKU splits as a guide (May will be very Oled heavy for Switch)

Switch: Oled / Standard / Lite - 70% / 20% / 10% - $350 / $300 / $200 - average price $325
PS5: Standard / Digital - 85% / 15% - $500 / $400 - average price $485

485 divided by 325 = 1.49
 
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Luigi Mario

Member
Consumer spending on Switch hardware reached an all-time May high for the platform, while unit sales were 2nd highest ever for the platform in a May month, trailing only May 2020.

Woopah Woopah I’m starting to think that we might not get the Switch successor next year.
 
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May 2020 for Switch was 529k, it sold a bit less this May even though revenue was higher due to the more expensive Oled model. My rough guess for Hardware sales would be 450-500K NSW, 250-300K PS5, 125-150K XBS.

As expected, Zelda boosted every Nintendo metric like a nuclear bomb. It was clear when it launched, during the first week of release everything everywhere was all about Zelda. It's amazing what $70 dlc can do for your hardware sales, lol.
 
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Woopah

Member
“Consumer spending on Switch hardware reached an all-time May high for the platform, while unit sales were 2nd highest ever for the platform in a May month, trailing only May 2020.”
Woopah Woopah I’m starting to think that we might not get the Switch successor next year.
I think that was guaranteed when Nintendo wanted to sell 15 million Switches this fiscal year.

I'm expecting March 2024 at the earliest, but I don't need to get new hardware for a while.
 
Double-digit percentage growth in both PlayStation 5 and Switch dollar sales again offset declines on Xbox, I don't know why so much detour to protect a brand, Switch selling luxury with Zelda and PS5 doubling sales from last May.
 
Why aren’t western media/reporters/journalists critical of Xbox?

They always seem to carefully choose their wording to protect them. It’s becoming embarrassing.

I was thinking the same thing. Ain't they independent? Just report the data without a bias. Why protect Microsoft? They now stopped individual charts all of a sudden. It's obvious why. If it was the other way round they would have no problem mentioning PS5 specifically instead of "other platforms"! Which ones!? PS4 and XB1 are barely selling anymore!
 
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Astray

Gold Member
Only one brand has its customers harass anyone who reports anything negative about it.

I'm sure that publishing what is a free, mainly promotional report was not deemed to be worth the harassment their employees get.
 

GigaBowser

The bear of bad news
Incredibubble how TOTKs alone made Switch first place last couples months in its 7th years

The games like an exclusives GTA only wayyyyyy better and with Mario this holidays Nintendos gonna be a wrecking machines
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
Could be, but there’s a certain level of harm that is done when Xbox isn’t even being mentioned.

But then he says double digit PS5 and Switch growth, when he’s omitting in that instance that it’s actually triple digit growth for PS5. He clarifies later.
Your common investor should have a right to know outside of just the mega shareholders. But the game has always been rigged.
 

Woopah

Member
Double-digit percentage growth in both PlayStation 5 and Switch dollar sales again offset declines on Xbox, I don't know why so much detour to protect a brand, Switch selling luxury with Zelda and PS5 doubling sales from last May.
Why aren’t western media/reporters/journalists critical of Xbox?

They always seem to carefully choose their wording to protect them. It’s becoming embarrassing.
It's a bit odd, tbh. If Switch was way down Mat would have no issue saying that.
"Declines in other platforms" is the standard NPD line. They use that regardless of which platforms are declining.
 
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