American consumers spent $13.1 billion on video games hardware and disc-based software in 2015, slightly less than the year before, according to game sales reporting firm NPD. Combined hardware and software sales were less than one percent year-over-year, with home and portable console sales down four percent. Physical video game sales were down two percent overall in 2015. Interestingly, the largest growing segment in gaming was the accessory market, which grew 12 percent compared to 2014.
At the same time, the Xbox One, PS4 and Wii U had their best single month ever in December, despite a comparatively sluggish month, industry-wide.
“After 26 months of sales, the combined cumulative sales of Xbox One and PS4 exceeds the 26 month total of the PS3 and Xbox 360 by 47 per cent,”NPD analyst Liam Callahan told Gamesindustry International. “The lead from the prior generation has expanded due to the strong PS4 and Xbox One 2015 holiday, going from 38 per cent by the end of October, growing to 47 per cent by the end of November, and maintaining 47 per cent higher sales by the end of December.”
Analysts and pundits suggest that the lackluster numbers seen on NPD may not indicate stagnant growth, but an increased number of digital sales, which are not reported by the service, and the end of consumer migration from the Xbox 360 and PS4. — “Seventh generation” hardware sales, Xbox 360/PS3/Wii, were down 53 percent, including a 71 percent slump in December.
Speaking of games, NPD also reported the top-selling video games on the year, overall, for 2015. As one might expect, the list consists wholly of established brands. Despite relatively lackluster support from critics, Call of Duty: Black Ops III helped the franchise maintain control of the top-seller list.
These are the top 10 best-selling games of 2015:
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.