In July 2025, the retail gaming revenue in the United States amounted to **** billion U.S. dollars. When examining specific segment revenues, accessories were the lowest-performing segment at retail overall, while video gaming content accounted for the majority of consumer spending. Video game spending habits in the United States More than four in ten U.S. gamers across all platforms were willing to spend a maximum of ** to ** U.S. dollars on a video game. A November 2022 survey found that more than four in ten PC and console gamers stated so, while over three in ten mobile-only gamers said they only played free games. Console gamers were most comfortable spending money on their hobby at this price point. In 2023, total U.S. consumer spending on video game content amounted to **** billion U.S. dollars, a one percent increase from **** billion U.S. dollars in the preceding year. Game releases are planned around the holiday season What is very specific to the industry at large is that the highest monthly revenues occur around the holiday season in November and December of each year. The entire market revolves around maximizing sales during the season, and most new game releases of high-budget, high-profile titles (so-called AAA games) are planned shortly before the winter holidays. Many of these annual blockbuster releases see releases from late Q3 onwards: EA Sports FC usually releases in late September, and new games in Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty series are launched between late October and early November.For the holiday season 2023, blockbusters Baldur’s Gate 3 and Starfield had already started the season of major video game releases. Other AAA titles that are also taking advantage of the Christmas shopping release window are the Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty DLC, Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 as well as the Nintendo Switch release of Hogwarts Legacy and the PS5 port of mobile gaming title Honkai Star Rail by Genshin Impact publisher MiHoYo.

In July 2025, total video games sales in the United States amounted to **** billion U.S. dollars, representing a five percent year-over-year increase. Generally speaking, the video game industry has its most important months in November and December, as video game software and hardware make very popular Christmas gifts. In December 2024, total U.S. video game sales surpassed **** billion U.S. dollars. Birth of the video game industry Although the largest regional market in terms of sales, as well as number of gamers, is Asia Pacific, the United States is also an important player within the global video games industry. In fact, many consider the United States as the birthplace of gaming as we know it today, fueled by the arcade game fever in the ’60s and the introduction of the first personal computers and home gaming consoles in the ‘70s. Furthermore, the children of those eras are the game developers and game players of today, the ones who have driven the movement for better software solutions, better graphics, better sound and more advanced interaction not only for video games, but also for computers and communication technologies of today. An ever-changing market However, the video game industry in the United States is not only growing, it is also changing in many ways. Due to increased internet accessibility and development of technologies, more and more players are switching from single-player console or PC video games towards multiplayer games, as well as social networking games and last, but not least, mobile games, which are gaining tremendous popularity around the world. This can be evidenced in the fact that mobile games accounted for ** percent of the revenue of the games market worldwide, ahead of both console games and downloaded or boxed PC games.

In March 2025, video gaming hardware sales in the United States reached approximately *** million U.S. dollars, representing a ** percent decrease compared to the same period in the previous year. Overall, video gaming hardware sales in the U.S. have been exhibiting an upward trend towards the end of the year, coinciding with the holiday season.

Nintendo Switch Dedicated Video Game Sales Units: 2017-2020

Quantifying Unit Sales Performance

By Charlie Hutcheson [source]

About this dataset

This dataset contains dedicated video game sales unit data for the Nintendo Switch platform from 2017 to 2020, as reported by official Nintendo Investor Relations. It provides an snapshot of consumers’ buying trends over the past four years and helps us gain insightful understanding into the introduction, expansion and success of this platform across global markets. The data can be used to analyze multiple aspects such as performance of specific titles/genres/franchises, changes in market expectations over time and more. This chart helps to visualize the dynamic changes in these sales units over that four-year timeframe. From this chart we can gain valuable understanding about how successful various releases have been on this gaming console, what titles drove its popularity levels and more useful insights that could help other developers in creating future products for similar platforms

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How to use the dataset

This dataset contains historical sales unit data for the Nintendo Switch platform from 2017 to 2020. The original visualization provides a clear visual representation of the number of sales units over time. It is easy to discern which months have seen higher levels of sales, and which have seen lower ones.

Using this dataset, users can perform various analyses on the results to gain further insights into consumer trends and buy behavior associated with the Nintendo Switch platform. Users can also glean information on pricing strategies taken by Nintendo as well as consumer preferences over time in order to inform future business decisions.

In order to maximize use of this data set, users are encouraged to consider questions such as: What types of games do consumers prefer? How has their taste changed over time? What is the average amount spent per game by region or country? How often are certain consoles purchased or rented? And what role do discounts or promotions play in influencing purchasing decisions? By exploring these questions, users can begin understanding how different factors may be affecting overall demand for a product associated with the Nintendo Switch platform.

By analyzing this dataset, users also get an insight into how other competitors within the industry are affecting sales performance and allowing them take steps necessary for either surpassing competitors or maintaining dominance through suitable tactics like improved marketing campaigns or better-priced products that appeal more strongly customers’ needs and wants . In addition, examining this data enables companies keenly understand customer demands at detailed levels including whether customers prefer switch game bundles with extra features like custom skins etc., titles released during special times such as a holiday season that incite strong demand among buyers and also relevant discounts/promotions offered during times when people want/needing much needed break from regular routine life.. Ultimately , gaining greater insight into customer objectives allows firms efficiently manage their costs while maximizing profits through effective decisions based on reliable datasets such as that contained in this one instead rarely updated manual counts/observations which dont just lack comprehensiveness but also accuracy in nature.

Research Ideas

• Producing a mobile application to present the sales units in an intuitive and interactive way;
• Utilizing the data for machine learning algorithms to predict and analyze trends in Nintendo Switch dedicated video game sales units;
• Creating infographics and visualizations that can be used for promotional materials or to educate customers about the success of Nintendo Switch dedicated game sales

Acknowledgements

If you use this dataset in your research, please credit the original authors. Data Source

License

License: Dataset copyright by authors - You are free to: - Share - copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially. - Adapt - remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. - You must: - Give appropriate credit - Provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. - ShareAlike - You must distribute your contributions under the same license as the or...

The revenue in the 'Games' segment of the media market in France was modeled to be ************ U.S. dollars in 2024. Between 2017 and 2024, the revenue rose by ************ U.S. dollars, though the increase followed an uneven trajectory rather than a consistent upward trend. The revenue will steadily rise by ************ U.S. dollars over the period from 2024 to 2030, reflecting a clear upward trend.Further information about the methodology, more market segments, and metrics can be found on the dedicated Market Insights page on Games.

The revenue in the 'Games' segment of the media market in Italy was modeled to be *********** U.S. dollars in 2024. Between 2017 and 2024, the revenue rose by ************ U.S. dollars, though the increase followed an uneven trajectory rather than a consistent upward trend. The revenue will steadily rise by *********** U.S. dollars over the period from 2024 to 2030, reflecting a clear upward trend.Further information about the methodology, more market segments, and metrics can be found on the dedicated Market Insights page on Games.

In the fiscal year ending March 2025, gaming and entertainment company Square Enix generated approximately 20.91 million gaming unit sales via download. Packaged (disc) games only amounted to 4.53 million unit sales. This result highlights the trend of digital gaming downloads now also outperforming packaged gaming sales in the console segment.

The Slovak video game console market declined remarkably to $X in 2022, reducing by -23% against the previous year. In general, consumption recorded a relatively flat trend pattern. Over the period under review, the market attained the peak level at $X in 2016; however, from 2017 to 2022, consumption stood at a somewhat lower figure.

In 2022, video game spending in Italy increased by *** percent to almost * billion euros. In 2026, expenditure in the gaming segment is projected to increase to **** billion euros annually.

Video game console exports from Finland declined slightly to X units in 2022, waning by -3.7% against 2021. In general, exports recorded a deep setback. The growth pace was the most rapid in 2017 with an increase of 61%. The exports peaked at X units in 2012; however, from 2013 to 2022, the exports stood at a somewhat lower figure.

Video game console exports from Ghana amounted to X units in 2022, remaining relatively unchanged against the previous year's figure. Over the period under review, exports showed a slight slump. The most prominent rate of growth was recorded in 2016 when exports increased by 2,207%. As a result, the exports reached the peak of X units. From 2017 to 2022, the growth of the exports remained at a somewhat lower figure.

The revenue in the 'Games' segment of the media market worldwide was modeled to stand at ************** U.S. dollars in 2024. Between 2017 and 2024, the revenue rose by ************* U.S. dollars, though the increase followed an uneven trajectory rather than a consistent upward trend. The revenue will steadily rise by ************** U.S. dollars over the period from 2024 to 2030, reflecting a clear upward trend.Further information about the methodology, more market segments, and metrics can be found on the dedicated Market Insights page on Games.

The Mexican video game console market rose to $582M in 2024, surging by 2.7% against the previous year. Over the period under review, consumption showed a measured expansion. Over the period under review, the market reached the peak level at $920M in 2017; however, from 2018 to 2024, consumption stood at a somewhat lower figure.

The Azerbaijani video game console market reached $X in 2022, with an increase of 1.9% against the previous year. Overall, consumption, however, recorded a abrupt contraction. The pace of growth appeared the most rapid in 2017 with an increase of 9.1% against the previous year. Over the period under review, the market reached the maximum level at $X in 2012; however, from 2013 to 2022, consumption remained at a lower figure.

In the games market in Italy in 2024, the mobile games segment generated the highest revenue, reaching approximately ************** U.S. dollars. The in-game advertising segment ranked second with around ************* U.S. dollars, while online games followed with about ************** U.S. dollars.

The PlayStation 2 was first released in 2000 in response to Sony's hugely popular original PlayStation. The PS2 has become the best-selling video game console of all time. As of May 2025, it had sold over *** million units worldwide. The latest PlayStation 5 console has sold over ***million units as of the most recently measured period. Nintendo's Switch is the only current-generation console among the five best-selling consoles of all time, with over *** million units. PlayStation console history PlayStation is a Japanese video game brand produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a division of the Sony Corporation. The PlayStation video game console is the most widely known product under the PlayStation umbrella. The first-generation PlayStation console was released in Japan in December 1994, and worldwide the following year. Since then, Sony has released a further four generations of video game consoles - PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and the latest PlayStation 5 which was released in November 2020. Sony has also released two handheld video game consoles: the PlayStation Portable and the PlayStation Vita. Nintendo console history Nintendo registers three devices in the top five for all-time sales of video game consoles. Nintendo released its first series of home consoles in 1977 with the Color TV-Game. In 1983, the company released the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), a console that has recorded close to ** million lifetime sales globally. This was followed by the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), Nintendo 64 (N64), and Nintendo GameCube, respectively. In 2006, Nintendo released the Wii, the popular home console with motion control features. Nintendo’s latest home console, the Nintendo Switch, was first released in 2017.

India Imports: INR: HS: 95045000: Video Game Consoles And Machines data was reported at 2,025.389 INR mn in 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 1,046.130 INR mn for 2017. India Imports: INR: HS: 95045000: Video Game Consoles And Machines data is updated yearly, averaging 1,365.719 INR mn from Mar 2014 (Median) to 2018, with 5 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2,025.389 INR mn in 2018 and a record low of 1,046.130 INR mn in 2017. India Imports: INR: HS: 95045000: Video Game Consoles And Machines data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The data is categorized under India Premium Database’s Foreign Trade – Table IN.JDS004: Foreign Trade: Harmonized System 8 Digits: By Commodity: HS95: Toys, Games & Sports Equipment, Parts & Accessories: Imports: INR.

In 2023, the video games industry in Australia was valued at *** billion Australian dollars, representing an increase from the previous year. Since 2017, the sector has experienced consistent year-on-year growth.

India Imports: Volume: HS: 95045000: Video Game Consoles And Machines data was reported at 231.250 kg th in 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of 72.990 kg th for 2017. India Imports: Volume: HS: 95045000: Video Game Consoles And Machines data is updated yearly, averaging 195.540 kg th from Mar 2014 (Median) to 2018, with 5 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 497.430 kg th in 2014 and a record low of 72.990 kg th in 2017. India Imports: Volume: HS: 95045000: Video Game Consoles And Machines data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Ministry of Commerce and Industry. The data is categorized under India Premium Database’s Foreign Trade – Table IN.JDS006: Foreign Trade: Harmonized System 8 Digits: By Commodity: HS95: Toys, Games & Sports Equipment, Parts & Accessories: Imports: Volume.

Poland Number of Listed Companies: WSE: Main Market: Trade and Services: Video Games data was reported at 7.000 Unit in Jun 2018. This stayed constant from the previous number of 7.000 Unit for May 2018. Poland Number of Listed Companies: WSE: Main Market: Trade and Services: Video Games data is updated monthly, averaging 6.000 Unit from Jan 2017 (Median) to Jun 2018, with 18 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 7.000 Unit in Jun 2018 and a record low of 6.000 Unit in Apr 2018. Poland Number of Listed Companies: WSE: Main Market: Trade and Services: Video Games data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Warsaw Stock Exchange. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Poland – Table PL.Z008: Warsaw Stock Exchange: Number of Listed Companies.