Assassin's Creed Shadows Achieves Third Largest US Launch Month in Franchise History | US Monthly Charts
In March 2025, "Assassin's Creed Shadows" led US game sales, though spending on gaming hardware saw a 25% reduction compared to the previous year. This installment in Ubisoft's franchise ranks second in annual US sales, trailing only "Monster Hunter Wilds." It topped Xbox sales and secured the second spot on PlayStation and Steam according to Circana.
As highlighted by Mat Piscatella of Circana on BlueSky, the game recorded the third-largest launch month sales in the series’ history, following behind "Assassin's Creed 3" (2012) and "Assassin's Creed Valhalla" (2020).
New entrants in the sales list included "MLB: The Show 25," which took second place (excluding some digital sales), the latest WWE 2K title in fourth, and the co-op game "Split Fiction" in fifth position. "Bleach: Rebirth of Souls," an anime-related title, occupied the ninth spot, while the "Xenoblade Chronicles X" remaster ranked 17th relying solely on physical sales. Konami's remaster of the "Suikoden" RPG series appeared at 18th.
In the mobile sector, despite a downturn compared to March 2024, the top games continued to thrive. "Monopoly Go" retained the top position for consumer spending, while "Candy Crush Saga” rose two places, and "Last War: Survival" dropped one. "Pokémon Go" experienced a notable increase, climbing to sixth place.
According to Samuel Aune from Sensor Tower, six of the top ten mobile games saw significant month-over-month growth, with "Pokémon Go" enjoying a 42% boost courtesy of the Unova Tour event. "Candy Crush Saga" rose 12%, regaining the third spot from "Last War: Survival," which grew by just 1.6%.
"Coin Master" also witnessed a strong month with 15% growth, moving up to seventh place. Overall, spending saw a reduction of 6% year-over-year to approximately $4.7 billion, while the cumulative spending for 2025, at $13.7 billion, was down 12% compared to 2024.
The decline in hardware expenditure continued, as previously noted, with March 2025 hardware sales amounting to $286 million—the lowest since 2019's figure of $279 million. While PS5 remained in the lead despite a 26% fall from March 2024, Xbox Series and Nintendo Switch dropped by 9% and 37%, respectively. Digital-only versions accounted for a significant portion of Xbox Series and PlayStation 5 sales this year.
Here are the top 20 bestselling games from February 2 to March 1, 2025, sourced from Circana:
| Rank | Last month rank | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | NEW | Assassin's Creed Shadows |
| 2 | NEW | MLB: The Show 25^^ |
| 3 | 1 | Monster Hunter Wilds |
| 4 | NEW | WWE 2K25 |
| 5 | NEW | Split Fiction |
| 6 | 6 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 |
| 7 | 4 | PGA Tour 2K25 |
| 8 | 5 | NBA 2K25 |
| 9 | NEW | Bleach: Rebirth of Souls |
| 10 | 2 | Kingdom Come: Deliverance II |
| 11 | 11 | Minecraft^ |
| 12 | 9 | Grand Theft Auto V |
| 13 | 12 | EA Sports FC 25 |
| 14 | 14 | Red Dead Redemption 2 |
| 15 | 10 | Madden NFL 25 |
| 16 | 18 | Elden Ring |
| 17 | NEW | Xenoblade Chronicles X* |
| 18 | NEW | Suikoden I and II HD Remaster: Gate Rune & Dunan Unification Wars |
| 19 | 13 | Marvel's Spider-Man 2 |
| 20 | 16 | EA Sports College Football 25 |
^Digital sales on Nintendo platforms not included.
^^Digital sales on Nintendo and Xbox platforms not included.
*Digital sales not included for marked titles.