U.S. video game spending fell 6% y/y in March, says Circana

In data published earlier this week, Circana analyst Mat Piscatella said that March 2025 projected U.S. consumer spending on video game hardware, content and accessories declined 6% when compared to YA, to $4.7B. Ubisoft’s (UBSFY) “Assassin’s Creed: Shadows” debuted as the best-selling game of March, ranking 2nd YTD. March 2025 content spending fell 4% vs YA, to $4.2B. The only growth segments were non-mobile subscription (+11%) and console digital premium downloads (+12%). Mobile content finished 6% behind March 2024. “Assassin’s Creed: Shadows” was the best-selling title in March, instantly becoming the #2 best-selling game of 2025 year-to-date. “Assassin’s Creed: Shadows” finished the month ranked 1st in full game dollar sales on Xbox (MSFT) platforms and 2nd on both PlayStation (SONY) and Steam. Sony’s “MLB The Show 25” ranked as the 2nd best-selling game of March and led all titles in full game dollar sales on PlayStation platforms. Tracked launch month dollar sales of “MLB The Show 25” were 23% higher than those of “MLB The Show 24” during its March 2024 debut period. March video game hardware spending fell 25% when compared to a year ago, to $286M. This is the lowest March hardware spending total since 2019. PlayStation 5 hardware dollar sales fell 26% in March vs YA, however the platform once again led the market in both dollar and unit sales. Xbox Series ranked 2nd in both measures with spending falling 9% year-on-year. Switch hardware sales dipped 37% compared to March a year ago. Other top-selling games for the month of March included Capcom’s (CCOEY) “Monster Hunter: Wilds,” Take-Two’s (TTWO) “WWE 2K25,” EA‘s (EA) “Split Fiction,” and Activision’s “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6.”