February 2017 NPD Report: Gaming Industry Sees Revenue Decline Amid Strong New Releases
The U.S. gaming market experienced a significant downturn in February 2017, with total revenues dropping 21% year-over-year to $724 million. Despite strong performances from new titles like For Honor and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, all market segments showed declines compared to February 2016.
Key Market Performance Metrics
According to The NPD Group’s tracking of physical and select digital sales:
- Hardware: \(204 million (↓30% from \)292.2 million)
- Console Software: \(344.2 million (↓14% from \)402 million)
- PC Software: \(25 million (↓26% from \)33.6 million)
- Accessories: \(150.8 million (↓21% from \)191 million)
“Console hardware accounted for 82% of total declines,” noted NPD analyst Mat Piscatella. “Both average pricing and units sold fell compared to last year.”
Top 10 Best-Selling Games (February 2017)
- For Honor (Ubisoft)
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Capcom)
- Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar)
- NBA 2K17 (2K Sports)
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (Activision)
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege (Ubisoft)
- Madden NFL 17 (EA Sports)
- Battlefield 1 (EA)
- Nioh (Team Ninja)*
- Overwatch (Blizzard)**
*Excludes digital sales
**Excludes Battle.net sales
Piscatella highlighted: “For Honor achieved top sales despite only 12 days on market, while Nioh marked another successful new release.”
Platform-Specific Performance
Xbox One Top Sellers
- For Honor
- Resident Evil 7
- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
- GTA V
- NBA 2K17
PlayStation 4 Top Sellers
- For Honor
- Resident Evil 7
- GTA V
- Nioh
- NBA 2K17
Hardware Market Trends
- PS4 maintained its position as the top-selling system
- The PS4 Slim 500GB Uncharted 4 Bundle was February’s best-selling console SKU
- 3DS sales surged 77% month-over-month thanks to new Galaxy Style and Pikachu Yellow models
Market Context and Outlook
The industry’s downturn reflects several factors:
- Limited major releases (only For Honor, Nioh, and Halo Wars 2 launched)
- Market saturation for current-gen consoles
- Consumer anticipation for Nintendo Switch (launched March 2017)
Notable trends included:
- Rainbow Six: Siege’s continued success driven by esports and Twitch popularity
- Overwatch’s sustained performance despite lacking Battle.net sales data
- Perennial favorites (GTA V, NBA 2K17) maintaining strong sales
The coming months promised significant market shifts with the Nintendo Switch launch and potential hardware refreshes from Sony and Microsoft.
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