Playstation Store led online spend in the last year. GameStop brought in the highest YOY growth at 128%
Key Takeaways
Online gaming remains an increasingly competitive industry, as we’ve seen in the last year across breakout game title releases, new console platform debuts with Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X, and online gaming subscriptions. Our previous research about gaming platform sales saw PS4 battling Xbox One and Nintendo Switch for leadership in consumer spend. To see which gaming platforms and retailers are winning in 2021, Edison Trends analyzed over 1.5 million transactions.
Which console video game platform sells the most online subscriptions?
Figure 1: Chart shows online spend on console subscriptions by month for Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft, from February 1, 2020 - February 28, 2021, according to Edison Trends. Note: the highest weekly value for spend was set to 100, and all other values scaled accordingly. This analysis is based on over 42,000 subscription transactions from Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.
Online spending on console gaming subscriptions over the last six months shows a peak the week of December 21 for all three vendors analyzed. Additionally, Sony saw a spike the week of November 23, not long after the launch of the PS5 on November 12.
Looking at February 2020 versus February 2021, Sony’s Playstation Plus and Playstation Now subscriptions together have grown spending 16%. Nintendo’s Switch Online has increased spending 91%, while spending on Microsoft’s Xbox Live and Game Pass has fallen.
Which online retailer is selling the most console and PC video game products?
Figure 2a: Chart shows top online retailers for customer spending on console and PC games, from March 1, 2020 - February 28, 2021, according to Edison Trends. The retailers studied are Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Steam, Best Buy, GameStop, Walmart, Target, Electronic Arts, and Epic Games. Note: the highest value for spend was set to 100, and all other values scaled accordingly. This analysis is based on over 1.5 million transactions, and includes full game, currency and add-on purchases from Sony (PS Store), Microsoft (Xbox Live and Microsoft store), Nintendo (Nintendo Store) as well as digital sales from retail stores (e.g. Best Buy, Walmart). It does not include payment services companies.
Figure 2b: Chart shows year-over-year increase in online spending on console and PC games comparing February 2020 vs. February 2021, according to Edison Trends. The merchants studied are GameStop, Steam, Nintendo, Target, Best Buy, Epic Games, Walmart, Electronic Arts, Microsoft, and Sony. Note: the highest value for spend was set to 100, and all other values scaled accordingly. This analysis is based on over 1.5 million transactions, and includes full game, currency and add-on purchases from Sony (PS Store), Microsoft (Xbox Live and Microsoft store), Nintendo (Nintendo Store) as well as digital sales from retail stores (e.g. Best Buy, Walmart). It does not include payment services companies like Xsolla.
Among retailers, the Playstation Store led the way over the past year in online customer spend on gaming. Microsoft was second, with their customers spending 81% of what was spent at the Playstation Store; Nintendo was third and Steam a close fourth, taking in 35% and 33% of what was spent at Playstation Store, respectively.
When it comes to YOY growth in online spend at retailers, GameStop is the winner, with customers spending 128% more online in February 2021 than they had in February 2020. Steam and Nintendo followed, each with 109% growth. The Playstation Store, which saw the highest overall online spend over the last year, has remained about the same.
To learn more about the data behind this article and what Edison Trends has to offer, visit https://trends.edison.tech/.
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