The NPD Group said Monday that total spending on gaming hardware, software, content and accessories in the U.S. was $5.9 billion for Q1 2011, a 1.5 percent increase over the total spending in the same quarter of the 2010 fiscal year.

That total amount includes $1.85 billion generated from used games, rentals, subscriptions, digital download, social networking, DLC and mobile games. The total also included $2.03 billion of consumer spend on physical retail console and PC games.

NPD Group is best known in the games industry for tracking physical sales of new games, and has begun releasing quarterly reports to reflect emerging digital models to paint a more complete picture of the U.S. games industry.

Anita Frazier, industry analyst for the NPD Group, explained, "While the new physical retail channel still generates the majority of industry sales, our expanded research coverage allows us to assess the total consumer spend across the growing number of ways to acquire and experience gaming, including mobile apps and downloadable content."

In a report last month, the NPD noted that, while traditional core gamers are still the most active and engaged market segment, digital gamers are quickly catching up.