• by Wayne Friedman , March 15, 2021

Video-game revenues -- games, consoles and accessories -- continue to spike, up 35% in February to a record $4.6 billion, according to the NPD Group. The uptick has been pushed in part by console upgrades.

The last two months of 2020 registered the same result: more record monthly sales. December 2020 saw $7.7 billion, while November 2020 hit $7 billion.

For the first two months of 2021, January and February saw total revenues reach $9.31 billion -- 39% more than the same period a year ago.

New sales activity by new console revenues has been key -- Sony’s Playstation 5, Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo Switch -- up a total of 130% to $725 million for the year-to-date.

All video-game content -- the biggest category -- added 33% more to $8.2 billion for 2021 so far. Video-game accessories (data from Sensor Tower), grew 57% to $417 million.

Top February video-game sellers in terms of revenue were: Nintendo’s “Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury,” with Activision Blizzard’s “Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War” in second place. (It was in first in January.) Next is Sega/Atlus’ “Persona 5: Strikers,” then Sony’s “Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales.”

In fifth place were Electronic Arts’ “Madden NFL 21,” next is Bandai Namco’s “Little Nightmares II,” Ubisoft’s “Assassin's Creed: Valhalla,” Nintendo’s “Mario Kart 8: Deluxe,” Nintendo’s “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” and Activision Blizzard’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.”