On the cusp of its sixth year, Nintendo‘s Switch hybrid system has set yet another benchmark in its category. The Switch has been the best-selling console in the United States for the past five years, as reported by the NPD Group’s newest figures for 2022.
Key releases like Splatoon 3 and Xenoblade Chronicles 3, as well as downloadable content for games like Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, helped Nintendo maintain sales last year. Also, it released OLED versions based on games like Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, as well as the newest Splatoon game, as part of themed bundles to promote hardware.
On Tuesday, NPD revealed sales numbers for December and the entire year, claiming that Nintendo’s platform outsold Sony’s in both time frames.
The PlayStation 5 from Sony ranked second, followed by the Xbox Series X|S from Microsoft in third place.
In December, consumers spent $7.6 billion on gaming equipment, content, and accessories, a 2% growth over the previous year. This was driven by a 16% increase in hardware sales, which made up for a 1% decrease in content sales and a 2% decrease in accessories.
With these numbers for December, total consumer spending on hardware, content, and accessories for 2022 comes to $56.6 billion, down 5% from the previous year.
