Circana has revealed its report on the video game industry for the month of May. Circana’s Executive Director & Video Game Industry Advisor Matt Piscatella reports that the projected U.S. total spending on video game hardware, content and accessories fell 6% compared to a year ago. Ghost of Tsushima came in at the top spot for the best-selling games of the month. There is also an update on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S hardware sales after the first 43 months in the market.
May 2024 U.S. Video Game Market Highlights from Circana – Projected U.S. total spending on video game hardware, content and accessories fell 6% in May 2024 when compared to a year ago, to $4.0 billion. Year-to-date 2024 spending was 2% higher than a year ago, at $22.8 billion. pic.twitter.com/QtKko05BoI
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) July 8, 2024
Other highlights for the best-selling games of the month include Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door which came in second. Once again, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III made its way into third place. The best-selling game of April, Stellar Blade, went down to tenth place.
May 2024 Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Physical and Digital from digital data sharing publishers, excludes add-on content) pic.twitter.com/V751fMRtbl
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) July 8, 2024
Piscatella notes that Ghost of Tsusima‘s rise to the top spot was due to the release of the game on PC during the month. When it released on Steam, it became PlayStation’s best-selling single-player launch on the platform, second only behind Helldivers II.
PlayStation 5 again led the month’s hardware market in unit and dollar sales. Nintendo Switch once again finished 2nd in unit sales, while Xbox Series ranked 2nd in dollars.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) July 8, 2024
Hardware spending declined 40% in May with PlayStation 5 leading the month unit and dollar sales once again, with Nintendo Switch in second place.
Through each console’s first 43 months in market, PlayStation 5 unit sales lead those of PlayStation 4 by 8%, while Xbox Series trails Xbox One by 13% and remains slightly behind Xbox 360.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) July 8, 2024
The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S have been out in the market for 43 months. Piscatella notes that PS5 is outpacing PS4 sales by 8 % while Xbox Series X|S trails Xbox One sales by 13 %.
