It was in March of 2020 that the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic and since then we have typically seen video game sales explode. For most of 2020, it was very tough to find a Nintendo Switch and even Ring Fit Adventure as many turned their normal exercise routines from outdoor to at home. In the second half of the year, despite their best effort with chip shortages, Sony and Microsoft both released their next generation of consoles to wild success and even wilder limited availability.

Although we are still in a pandemic, there was curiosity of just how long these sales could maintain their extreme levels. This week Mat Piscatella from the NPD group shared his data regarding the video game sales for the month of March 2021, which would be the first month that we have since the pandemic started to compare other months in the pandemic. Sadly, it has been that long but it feels like we are much closer to the end than we are to the beginning. All of this isn’t news to anyone but what is new and interesting are these NPD stats for the month of March and subsequently, the data for the first quarter of 2021.