Switch Best-Selling Console in the US in May, Xbox Series X|S Takes 2nd and PS5 3rd - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 14 June 2022 / 4,958 Views
The Nintendo Switch was the best-selling console in the US in May 2022 and 2022 year-to-date in terms of units sold, according to figures from The NPD Group. NPD includes the dates for the four week period of May 1 to May 28.
The Xbox Series X|S was the second best-selling console in terms of units sold and revenue in May 2022. It is also the only hardware platform to see dollar sales growth year-over-year in May and year-to-date.
The PlayStation 5 was the third-bestselling console in May. It was noted the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X continue to be supply constrained.
Overall spending on video games in May decreased 19 percent year-over-year from $4.52 billion to $3.69 billion. Spending on video game content dropped 19 percent from $4.14 billion to $3.33 billion, while video game hardware sales decreased 11 percent percent from $244 million to $216 million.
Year-to-date sales for 2022 are down 10 percent from $24.41 billion to $21.94 billion. Spending on video game content in 2022 dropped 10 percent from $21.45 billion to $19.31 billion, while video game hardware sales dropped nine percent percent from $1.94 billion to $1.76 billion.
"May 2022 consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories fell 19% when compared to a year ago, to $3.7 billion," said The NPD Group Executive Director and Video Game Industry Advisor Mat Piscatella. "This is the lowest monthly spending total the industry has achieved since February 2020.
"Year-to-date spending has reached $21.9 billion, a 10% drop when compared to the same period in 2021. Subscription content is the only category showing year-on-year spending growth.
"Video game hardware dollar sales fell 11% when compared to a year ago, to $216 million. Year-to-date spending on hardware declined 9%, to $1.8 billion."
Elden Ring was the best-selling game of May 2022 after it dropped to second place in April 2022. It was the best-selling game in May on the Xbox and Steam charts, while it was second on the PlayStation charts. It remains the best-selling game of 2022.
"Elden Ring returned to the top of the best-selling titles chart, after ranking 2nd in April," said Piscatella. "Elden Ring was the best-selling game of May on both Xbox and Steam, while placing 2nd on PlayStation. It remains the best-selling game of the year."
Evil Dead: The Game was the only new release in the top 50 best-selling games of May 2022 as it debuted in fourth place.
"Evil Dead: The Game was the 4th best-selling game of May and was the only new release to appear among the top 50 best-selling games of the month," said Piscatella.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has returned to the top 20 best-selling games for the first time since November 2017. Steam accounted for nearly half of its sales.
"The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim returned to the top 20 best-selling titles chart for the first time since ranking 20th during November 2017," said Piscatella. "Steam accounted for nearly half of the title's May 2022 dollar sales."
Here are the top 20 best-selling games in terms of dollars for May 2022:
Top 10 best-selling Nintendo games for May 2022:
Top 10 best-selling PlayStation games for May 2022:
Top 10 best-selling Xbox games for May 2022:
Here are the top 20 best-selling games in year-to-date 2022:
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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When you don't include digital sales, you can't get the true picture.
The last software charts which VGChartz has, was at the end of 2018, because there aren't enough sources for digital sales. This article is better than nothing, but it's a bit misleading I have to admit.
Xbox players bought a lot of Call of Duty games last month. Like a lot...
Well they have no 1st party exclusives for the entire 2022 calendar year so I expect this trend will continue for quite awhile.
