Last year, when almost the entire world seemed to be confined at home, gaming saw a huge boost in popularity. People suddenly found themselves isolated and with a lot of free time, while console manufacturers benefited. Gaming provided both a diversion and the ability for people to stay connected with others and socialize. Not only did 35% of gamers claim to be playing more often, but people who did not usually indulge in the pastime ended up buying a console as well.
By July 2020, Microsoft reported that Xbox Game Pass and Xbox console sales had greatly increased, with CEO Satya Nadella stating that the previous fiscal quarter had been “a breakthrough…for gaming.” And at the beginning of 2021, the Nintendo Switch surpassed the lifetime unit sales of the 3DS, reaching 76 million units sold less than four years after launch.
According to a June report released by the Consumer Technology Association, more than half of U.S. homes now have at least one video game console, a 10% increase from last year. Most of those households own an older generation platform, like an Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, Wii, or Switch.
Twenty-six percent of people surveyed reported owning an Xbox Series X/S or a PlayStation 5, which might seem a high number considering how difficult it has been for many people to obtain a current-gen console since their launch in November 2020. However, both Microsoft and Sony have experienced record-breaking sales in 2021, with total hardware spending increasing by 112% from just a year ago.
Thirty percent of households plan to purchase a console within the next 12 months, a 43% jump from 2020. Of those intending to buy a new console, 21% are hoping to get an Xbox Series X/S or PlayStation 5, while 15% plan to buy a last-gen or older console.
Along with game consoles, smartphones and televisions top the list of technology products purchased by U.S. households, a trend that was spurred by the coronavirus pandemic but which doesn’t seem to be slowing down even as lockdowns are lifted.
Additionally, according to numbers released in a report by Jon Peddie Research, sales of Nvidia and AMD graphics cards have increased by 35% in the first quarter of 2021. As with console sales numbers, these figures seem incongruent with the difficulty many people have had obtaining a new GPU over the last year and a half. Many of these sales have likely occurred in spurts as stock sporadically becomes available, and much of it may be due to the tenacity of cryptominers, who scoop up large quantities of available stock.
Sources: Consumer Technology Association, Gamasutra