According to the NPD, January 2022 consumer spending declined 2% when compared to a year ago, to $4.7 billion. The double-digit percentage gain in hardware spending wasn’t able to offset declines. Hardware dollar sales increased 22% year-over-year (yoy) to $390 million, making it the highest since January 2009 when hardware reached $447 million. PS5 was the best-selling hardware platform of January 2022 in both units and dollars followed by Xbox Series X/S across both measures. This is the first time in ages that Nintendo Switch didn’t top the NPD hardware chart. In software, Pokemon Legends: Arceus was January’s best-selling game, followed by Call of Duty: Vanguard. Monster Hunter Rise came in third, and God of War (2018) landed in fifth place. Both saw a substantial rise on the chart thanks to their respective Steam releases. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales ranked as the sixth best-selling game of January overall while placing second on PlayStation platforms. Best-selling games per platform can be found below. US mobile game spending was down 6.8% yoy. According to the NPD, the drop signaled a return to pre-pandemic revenue trends after unprecedented growth during most of 2020 and 2021. Sales of accessoriesdeclined by 15% yoy to $185 million. The Xbox Elite Series 2 Wireless Controller was the best-selling accessory of January.
