Photo by James Bareham / The Verge
American consumers spent more this past quarter on video games than they ever have before, to the tune of $10.9 billion — up 9 percent from the year before, according to industry analyst NPD Group (via Bloomberg). The period covers only January to March, meaning spending in the current quarter ending June 30th might end up being just as high, if not higher.
Obviously, the main event in the back third of this quarter was the coronavirus pandemic, which reached American shores at the end of January and has kept the public indoors since mid-March. According to NPD, game sales and in-game microtransactions made up $9.6 billion of that $10.9 billion figure. “Top titles included Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, D…