Analyst: The Nintendo Switch outsold every other console in 2020

Despite all the late-year hubbub over next-generation consoles, Nintendo and its family of Switch devices came out on top in 2020.

According to sales data shared by the analytical folks over at the NPD Group, annual dollar sales for Nintendo Switch in 2020 were the second highest ever for a platform in the US, and now holds a record just behind 2008 dollar sales of the Nintendo Wii.

Tweets from NPD Group's Mat Piscatella note that the Switch managed to close out 2020 as the best-selling hardware platform, both in terms of units sold and dollar sales. Sony falls just behind Nintendo in those rankings: the PlayStation 5 was the second best selling console for the year in terms of dollar sales while the PlayStation 4 claimed that honor when going by units sold.

By the NPD Group's data, video game spending (including hardware, games, and accessories) reached $7.7 billion in December alone, up 25 percent year-over-year. Hardware sales made up $1.35 billion in December, up 38 percent from year prior.

For 2020 as a whole, the NPD Group reports $25.9 billion for 2020 as a whole, up 27 percent year-over-year, with $5.3 billion of that coming from hardware sales, up 35 percent year-over-year and the highest reported hardware dollar sales since 2011.

More from the NPD's end-of-year reporting can be found in Piscatella's full thread linked just below.