Coming off a busy holiday season, January found itself a bit of a lull, as both digital sales and console makers reported weaker performances compared to last year.
SuperData, a subsidiary of Nielson, released numbers for the month of January 2019 – which showed consumers spending a total of $8.4 billion US, but with the year-over-year performance down 6%. Premium PC saw the biggest drop at 29% decline, and console revenue saw a drop of around 3%.
Fortnite had a month-to-month drop in revenue with an overall decline of 48% but sales are up year-over-year.
Red Dead 2 Online, a feature currently in beta, also saw revenue fall by 14% in January. GTA Online makes around 5 times the amount in MTX but saw a lull in January as well.
Massive Nintendo Switch hit Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, also saw a steep decline last month. Digital sales were down 83% from the previous month but players purchased the Fighter Pass, seeing a bump for in-game spending.
Lastly and surprisingly, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive went free-to-play last year, and while there was a high engagement level, that didn’t necessarily mean players purchased much.
