The total United States video game industry in 2017 was estimated by NPD Group to reach $14.59 billion, up 11% from 2016. In addition to the launch of the Nintendo Switch, the year was buoyed by strong PS4 and Xbox One sales.[1]This year marked many notable changes to NPD reporting, such as individual platform charts for each month and rolling year charts for overall sales
Overview[]
Hardware reaches $6.9 billion when including accessories and is up 19% from 2016. Console hardware by itself is $4.71 billion up 28% from 2016. Accessories and Gamecards were $3.216 billion, up 2% from 2016. Software, including in-game purchases, subscriptions and mobile games reach $29.1 billion, up 18% from 2016. For just full-game software, it was $6.388 billion for consoles and $275 million for PC. PC games were down 20% but, the NPD does not track digital data for a number of major PC titles such as Counter-Strike, PUBG or League of Legends since they are not a part of the Digital Leader Panel.
In terms of hardware, the Sony Playstation 4 was the leader for both units and dollar sales. The Playstation 4 and Xbox One's combined install base for the 50 months since launch exceed the install base of the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 by 18% and the Playstation 2 and Xbox by 4%. The Switch was only out for 10 months by the end of the year but, on a time aligned basis, the Nintendo Switch had sold more than any single platform in their first 10 months.
In terms of software, Call of Duty remained the top revenue generating franchise in tracked history with Call of Duty: WWII topping the annual chart. Activision Blizzard, as a publisher, had the highest consumer spending for the year. Sales of Racing games became 68% higher than 2016, showing the most growth of the major genres, though Shooting games remained the top revenue generating genre.
Monthly Revenue[]
| Month | Hardware | Console
Software |
PC
Software |
Accessories | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | $127.1m | $312,5m | $16.1m | $155m | $610.7m |
| February | $204m | $344.2m | $25m | $150.8m | $724m |
| March | $485m | $612m | $29m | $231m | $1.36b |
| April | $195m | $304m | $11m | $125m | $636m |
| May | $147m | $271m | $12m | $112m | $542m |
| June | $231m | $343m | $32m | $159m | $765m |
| July | $182m | $263m | $14m | $129m | $588m |
| August | $168m | $271m | $11m | $118m | $568m |
| September | $316m | $726m | $18m | $150m | $1.21b |
| October | $238 | $447m | $27m | $113m | $825m |
| November | $1.147b | $1.164b | $33m | $344m | $2.68b |
| December | $1.27b | $1.24b | $40m | $735m | $3.29b |
| Total | $4.71b | $6.39b | $275m | $3.22b | $14.59b |
Lists[]
*means no Digital Data
** means no data from certain storefronts such as Battle.net
Overall[2][]
- Call of Duty: WWII
- NBA 2K18
- Destiny 2**
- Madden NFL 18
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
- Star Wars: Battlefront II**
- Super Mario Odyssey*
- Mario Kart 8*
Playstation 4[3][]
- Call of Duty: WWII
- NBA 2K18
- Destiny 2
- Madden NFL 18
- Horizon Zero Dawn
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Star Wars: Battlefront II
- Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
- FIFA 18
- MLB 17: The Show
Xbox One[]
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Destiny 2
- NBA 2K18
- Madden NFL 18
- Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
- Star Wars: Battlefront II
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Assassin's Creed Origins
- For Honor
- Injustice 2
Nintendo Switch[]
There are no digital sales tracked for Nintendo platforms
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Splatoon 2
- Mario & Rabbids: Kingdom Battle
- ARMS
- Pokken Tournament DX
- 1-2 Switch
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Nintendo 3DS[]
- Pokémon: Ultra Sun
- Pokémon: Ultra Moon
- Pokémon: Sun
- Pokémon: Moon
- Super Mario Maker
- Metroid: Samus Returns
- Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
- Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS
- Mario Kart 7
- Poochy and Yoshi's Woolly World
2024 Update[]
In January 2024, Circana published revised rankings for the year based on revenue. It does include digital for members of the Digital Leader Panel, including companies such as Bethesda, which were not members at the time. [4]
- Call of Duty: WWII
- NBA 2K18
- Destiny 2**
- Madden NFL 18
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
- Star Wars: Battlefront II**
- Super Mario Odyssey*
- Mario Kart 8*
- Assassin's Creed: Origins
- FIFA 18
- For Honor
- Injustice 2
- Horizon: Zero Dawn
- Mass Effect: Andromeda
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege
- Overwatch
- Middle-Earth: Shadows of War