Videogame gross sales flatten out as ‘Fashionable Warfare II’ leads video games rebound (NASDAQ:ATVI)

Videogame trade gross sales in October have been flat from the earlier October – narrowly avoiding a twelfth straight month of declines, and marking yet one more month of an enhancing gross sales trajectory towards powerful comparisons from 2021.

General gross sales got here in at $4.271B, simply as that they had in October 2021, in response to NPD Group – and this time it was some beforehand surging {hardware} gross sales that declined, and a few lately lackluster sport content material revenues that picked up, thanks as at all times to the newest Name of Responsibility launch.

Name of Responsibility: Fashionable Warfare II (NASDAQ:ATVI) debuted atop the agency’s dollar-sales sport chart, marking the fifteenth straight yr that an entry within the CoD franchise debuted atop the gross sales checklist in its launch month. (Final yr, Name of Responsibility: Vanguard additionally launched within the November monitoring interval, enhancing the outlook for October’s comparability.)

That helped tempo videogame content material gross sales to a 2% year-over-year acquire in October – the class’s first enhance in months – to $3.7B. {Hardware} gross sales against this fell 10%, to $424M, and accent gross sales slipped 8% to $148M.

The development has been enhancing: General gross sales fell 4% year-over-year in September; in August, they fell 5%; in July, fell by 9%; and in June, fell by 11%.

With 10 months of 2022 within the books, general videogame gross sales year-to-date are down 7%, to $42.69B. {Hardware} gross sales are down 2% year-over-year, to $3.78B; accent gross sales are down 12%, to $1.72B; and sport content material is down 8%, to $37.19B.

Again to October: In {hardware}’s decline, double-digit surges within the massive two next-gen platforms have been offset elsewhere. The PlayStation 5 (NYSE:SONY) was the best-seller in unit and greenback phrases, forward of the Xbox Sequence (NASDAQ:MSFT). One of the best-selling accent of October was the PlayStation 5 DualSense Wi-fi Controller Midnight Black.

In sport content material, 5 of the highest 10 on the greenback gross sales chart have been new releases. Simply behind Fashionable Warfare II (ATVI) was the debut of Gotham Knights (WBD), and people two video games bumped final month’s leaders to No. 3 and 4: FIFA 23 (NASDAQ:EA) and Madden NFL 23 (EA).

Rounding out the highest 10 was the debut of NHL 23 (EA) at No. 5; the debut of Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope (OTCPK:UBSFY) at No. 6; Persona 5 (Atlus) at No. 7; NBA 2K23 (TTWO) at No. 8; Bayonetta 3 (OTCPK:NTDOY) at No. 9; and Elden Ring (OTCPK:NCBDY) at No. 10.

Cell sport spending continued its slide – and barring an enormous vacation surge, it’ll fall year-over-year for the primary time ever, Sensor Tower’s Dennis Yeh notes. The highest 10 cellular video games by U.S. client spending for October: Sweet Crush Saga (ATVI), Roblox (RBLX), Royal Match, Conflict of Clans, Coin Grasp, Pokémon Go (OTCPK:NTDOY), Evony, Township, Bingo Blitz (PLTK), and Homescapes.

Associated tickers: OTCPK:NTDOY, SONY, MSFT, HEAR, LOGI, CRSR, EA, ATVI, TTWO, WBD, OTCPK:UBSFY, OTCPK:NCBDY, OTCPK:SQNNY, OTCPK:CCOEY, OTCPK:SGAMY, OTCPK:KNMCY, SKLZ, SE, NTES, OTCPK:TCEHY, RBLX. Retail inventory: GME.

ETFs: GAMR, ESPO, NERD