Spending in August declines by 7% to $4.1 billion despite the success of Madden and mobile platforms | US Monthly Charts
According to Circana's latest report, US consumer expenditure on video games saw a reduction of 7% in August, totaling $4.1 billion.
A significant reduction was observed in hardware sales, which dropped by 36% to $208 million compared to the same month in 2023. The Nintendo Switch experienced the largest decrease, with a 41% decline. Meanwhile, the PlayStation 5 continues to lead as the top-selling console for the period.
Spending on game content, which includes full sales of both physical and digital formats, as well as microtransactions, downloadable content, and subscriptions across devices like consoles, mobile, PC, and VR, decreased by 5% to $3.7 billion. However, information from Sensor Tower indicates mobile game spending rose by 5% year-over-year.
Madden NFL 25 emerged as August's top-selling game, continuing its 25-year tradition of releasing at the highest-selling spot during its launch month.
The previous month's leader, EA Sports College Football 25, now in second place, has become the year's top seller, surpassing Helldivers 2. This is without counting the sales from the EA Sports MVP Bundle, which includes enhanced versions of both College Football and Madden, marking it as the fifth best-selling product of the year and fourth for August.
Noteworthy new entries in the Top 20 for August include Ubisoft's Star Wars: Outlaws at position three, Square Enix's Visions of Mana taking tenth, and Gundam Breaker 4 from Bandai Namco at eleventh place.
Spending on video games throughout the year has maintained a slight 1% increase, totaling $36.3 billion in the first eight months.
Video game content expenditures have grown by 4% to $32.3 billion, while hardware sales have dropped by 28% to $2.3 billion.
These are the top 20 games for the period between August 4 and 31, according to Circana's data:
| Rank | Last month rank | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | NEW | Madden NFL 25 |
| 2 | 1 | EA Sports College Football |
| 3 | NEW | Star Wars: Outlaws |
| 4 | 2 | EA Sports MVP Bundle |
| 5 | 3 | Elden Ring |
| 6 | 7 | Hogwarts Legacy |
| 7 | 5 | Minecraft^^ |
| 8 | 4 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 |
| 9 | 10 | Marvel's Spider-Man 2 |
| 10 | NEW | Visions of Mana |
| 11 | NEW | Gundam Breaker 4 |
| 12 | 34 | The Elder Scrolls Online |
| 13 | 13 | Helldivers 2 |
| 14 | 12 | Mario Kart 8* |
| 15 | 20 | Ghost of Tsushima |
| 16 | 16 | Sea of Thieves |
| 17 | 8 | MLB The Show 24^ |
| 18 | 29 | Forza Horizon 5 |
| 19 | 27 | Gran Turismo 7 |
| 20 | 9 | EA Sports FC 24 |
*Digital sales not included, ^Xbox and Switch digital sales not included, ^^Digital sales on Nintendo platforms not included.
