November 2018 NPD: Red Dead on top with strong debut from Pikachu

The video game industry in the United States was flat year-over-year in November, according to industry-tracking firm The NPD Group. U.S. consumers spent $2.693 billion on hardware, software, and accessories. In November 2017, that number was $2.706 billion. Overall, the month was still strong considering it had a tough comparison to last year.

“Gains in hardware, accessories and game card spending were offset by a decline in software due to the shift of the launch Call of Duty into the October month,” NPD analyst Mat Piscatella said. “Year-to-date spending across video game hardware, software, accessories and game cards has grown 16 percent when compared to the same period a year ago, to $13.2 billion. This is the highest year-to-date total spend achieved since the $13.9 billion achieved between January and November 2010.”