In January, the US gaming market revenue amounted to $4.7 billion, and Final Fantasy VII Remake jumped 216 spots in the chart
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella shared the first report on the state of the American market in 2026. Here are the key points.
- In January 2026, American consumers spent a total of $4.69 billion on video games, hardware, and accessories. This is a 3% increase compared to the previous year.
- The majority of the spending was on video games — $4.3 billion. Expenditures on console and PC titles rose by 2% and 1% respectively, while mobile revenue dropped by 1%.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 remained the leader in the chart* in terms of dollar revenue. The only newcomer on the list was Code Vein II, debuting at 11th place.
- Final Fantasy VII Remake showed a remarkable rise, climbing to 9th place (+216 positions), thanks to the launch of its version for Nintendo Switch 2. Helldivers 2 also returned to the top 20.
- Game hardware sales continued their traditional decline, falling to $248 million (-16% year-on-year). Despite a 17% drop, the PlayStation 5 remained the leader both in revenue and units sold, followed by the Switch 2. Spending on Xbox Series decreased by 27%.
* Recall that not all new releases are available on discs, and Circana obtains digital sales data only from a limited list of major publishers and platform holders. Therefore, indie projects or titles from smaller studios are rarely seen in the charts.
Top 20 Best-Selling Games in the USA in 2025 According to Circana:
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
- NBA 2K26
- Madden NFL 26
- Minecraft^
- Battlefield 6
- EA Sports FC 26
- GTA V
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Final Fantasy VII Remake
- Forza Horizon 5
- Code Vein II (new entry)
- Ghost of Yotei
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
- EA Sports College Football 26
- Helldivers 2
- Pokemon Legends: Z-A*
- Split Fiction
- Elden Ring
- Flight Simulator 2024
- Fallout 4
* — excluding digital sales.
^ — excluding digital sales on Nintendo Switch.