Animal Crossing: New Horizons hits it big as game spending soars

By Eric Abent/April 22, 2020 4:11 pm EST

We already knew that people were turning to games to pass the time as we practice social distancing and isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, but today, we're getting an idea of just how much that's happening. As it turns out, March 2020 was a huge month for game spending, with titles like Animal Crossing: New Horizons and DOOM Eternal unsurprisingly coming out on top.

So says SuperData, which reported today that worldwide spending on digital games topped $10 billion in March, which is not only an 11% increase over March 2019 but also the highest monthly total ever recorded. SuperData also says that premium console revenue rose 64% during the month – climbing from $883 million from February to $1.5 billion in March – while premium PC revenue made a similar month-over-month climb of 53%, jumping from $363 million to $567 million.

READ MORE: Animal Crossing: New Horizons ReviewIt sounds like Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the big star of March, topping SuperData's list of top-grossing console games for the month. The game apparently moved 5 million digital copies in March, which is more than any game that came before it. To put things in perspective, SuperData says that Animal Crossing: New Horizons "roughly matched the first-month digital sales of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Pokemon Sword and Shield put together."

So, if there was any question as to whether or not Animal Crossing: New Horizons was a success, we apparently have our answer. SuperData also says that DOOM Eternal enjoyed a big increase in revenue over its predecessor – while DOOM 2016 sold 957,000 digital copies during its first month on shelves, DOOM Eternal pulled down a whopping 3 million digital sales in March.

Other winners from last month include Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which enjoyed a huge user base boost because of the launch of Warzone, and Half-Life: Alyx, which pulled in 860,000 players in March. For more on March 2020's big winners in the games industry, check out SuperData's full report.