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THREAD - Led by Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, tracked Dec sales reached $3.4B, +2% vs YA. Nintendo Switch finishes as the year's top HW platform, while Red Dead Redemption 2 is the best-selling game of the year. Here are all the U.S. market highlights from The NPD Group! 
US NPD VG - Dec 18 tracked spending across VG HW, SW, ACC & GC totaled $3.4B, +2% vs YA. Gains in Accessories and Game Card spending offset declines in Hardware and Software spend. This is the highest total tracked consumer spend for a December month since December 2015.
US NPD VG - Annual spending across tracked Video Game Hardware, Software, Accessories and Game Cards increased 13 percent when compared to 2017, to $16.7 billion. This is the highest annual tracked consumer spend total since the $17.4 billion generated in 2011.
Top 20 For December 2018 and the 2018 Year
Top 10 Best-Selling Titles for December 2018 by platform
US NPD SW - Annual dollar sales of tracked Console, Portable and PC Video Game Software reached $7.1 billion in 2018, growing 7 percent when compared to 2017. This is the highest annual total for tracked Video Game Software spending since the $7.5 billion generated in 2012.
US NPD SW - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is the best-selling game of December 2018 and instantly becomes the 5th best-selling game of 2018, despite digital sales not currently being tracked by The NPD Group.
US NPD SW - Packaged software launch month dollar sales of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate exceeded those of the previous best in franchise history, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, by over 70 percent.
US NPD SW - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate sets a new launch month dollar sales record for a platform exclusive in Video Game history, exceeding the launch month dollar sales of 2010's Halo: Reach.
US NPD SW - Red Dead Redemption 2 is the best-selling Video Game of 2018.
US NPD SW - Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is the 3rd best-selling game of December, and finishes the year as the second best-selling title of 2018 in dollar sales. 2018 marks the 10th consecutive year that Call of Duty is the best-selling Video Game franchise of the year.
US NPD SW - NBA 2K19 is the year's best-selling Sports title, and the third best-selling game of the year overall. 2018 marks the third consecutive year a title from the NBA 2K franchise has been the best-selling Sports game of the year.
US NPD SW - Mario Kart 8 finishes 2018 as the second best-selling Racing game of all time, trailing only Mario Kart Wii in lifetime dollar sales.
US NPD SW - Marvel's Spider-Man ranks as the 6th best-selling game of the year. This is the highest placement on the end of year best-sellers charts for a Superhero game since Spider-Man: The Movie 2 was the 5th best-selling game of 2004.
US NPD SW - For the first time since 2009, Nintendo is the highest software revenue generating publisher of the year.
US NPD HW - For the 2018 year, hardware spending increased 8 percent to $5.1 billion. Console hardware sales drove the growth, as PlayStation 4, Plug N Play devices, Switch and Xbox One all experienced year on year gains.
US NPD HW - Nintendo Switch generated the highest December month hardware dollar sales for a single platform since the Nintendo Wii in December 2009, and achieved the highest December unit sales for a single platform since December 2010.
US NPD HW - Nintendo Switch ends 2018 as the year's best-selling hardware platform in both units and dollars. Annual unit and dollar sales of Nintendo Switch are the highest annual total for any hardware platform since the PlayStation 4 in 2015.
US NPD HW - Console hardware unit and dollar sales reached their highest annual totals since 2009.
US NPD ACC & GC - Total spending on Acc & GC grew 29% in Dec 2018 vs YA, to an all-time high of $1.0 billion. Gamepad spending gains were the primary driver of the increase. The Nintendo Switch Pro Controller was the month's best-selling Accessory in dollar sales.
US NPD ACC & GC - Annual spending on Accessories and Game Card increased 33 percent in 2018 when compared to 2017, to $4.5 billion. This is an all-time high. Growth in Gamepad and Headset/Headphone sales drove gains.
US NPD ACC & GC - The PS4 DualShock 4 Black, Switch Pro Controller and the Xbox One S Wireless Controller White were the three best-selling Accessories of 2018 in dollar spend.
BONUS CHARTS - 2018's Top 10 Best-Selling Games per Platform. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is the best-selling game of 2018 on Xbox One.
Red Dead Redemption 2 was the year's best-selling game on PlayStation 4.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate was 2018's best-selling game on Nintendo Switch.
Pokemon: Ultra Sun is the best-selling game of the year on Nintendo 3DS.
