And the hits just keep on coming.

Over the weekend, information was shared suggesting that The Callisto Protocol failed to meet sales expectations by a considerable margin. Today we have further information, this time from the NPD Group, that sheds some additional light on just how poorly this new sci-fi horror/shooter performed.

The NPD Group shared their sales information for December 2022 along with their full year 2022 details. The full year isn't all that exciting, but we'll get to that later. For December, we do see how a couple of the supposed poor releases of the month really fared: The Callisto Protocol and Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope.

The Callisto Protocol debuted in the 17th spot for best selling games of December in the United States. It reached the 10th spot for both PlayStation and Xbox charts. While this isn't exactly terrible, it also isn't exactly great either. For a new IP from a new development studio? Yeah, not bad. Then you see that it was beat out on the charts by Mario Kart 8, a game that came out nine years ago.

At least with Mario Kart 8, you could argue that it saw a rise in popularity due to the release of new DLC. Then you also find out that The Callisto Protocol was surpassed by Minecraft and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, neither of which having received any major updates in December.

When it comes to Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, this one performed marginally better than The Callisto Protocol at the very least. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope was out for October, where it hit the number 6 spot. In November it slid to the 13th spot. In December, it dropped just one spot to 14, placing it three spots higher than The Callisto Protocol. It is perhaps more impressive that it outperformed The Callisto Protocol given that Mario + Rabbids is exclusive to one platform while The Callisto Protocol was released across five platforms.

In broader figures, overall spending on games increased 2% in December 2022 compared to December 2021. We all spent $7.6 billion (USD) in the month. Hardware sales were up 16% with the PlayStation 5 being the best-selling console for the month in dollar sales and the Switch being the best selling in terms of unit sales.

Throughout 2022, spending on video games was down 5% to a pathetic $56.6 billion. This was offset a bit by increases in spending on hardware and subscriptions. A bunch of factors played a role in these changes, but they seemed to be most impacted by a real lack of premium game releases, supply constraints for most of the year, and the fact that the economy SUCKS.

As for the best selling game of 2022, it is none other than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Elden Ring was the second best selling title. These probably shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody.

The full lists for best selling games in December 2022 and for all of 2022 can be found below. Some of these titles, especially for those on Nintendo hardware and games from Take-Two are a bit of a best guess. These companies do not share digital sales data and are not included in the final tallies.