U.S. video game spending rose 3% y/y in December, says Circana

Circana analyst Mat Piscattella said that increases in consumer spending on subscription services, hardware and mobile content helped the U.S. video game market reach $60.7B in 2025, achieving 1.4% growth when compared to a year ago. Total December projected spending across video game hardware, content and accessories grew 3% when compared to a year ago, to $7.8B. Hardware, subscription and PC content gains drove the increase. December hardware spending increased by 6% when compared to a year ago, to $1.2B. Unit sales in the month fell by 8% versus December 2024, while the average sales price increased by 18%. Annual spending finished 9% ahead of a year ago, at $5.4B. Nintendo Switch 2 led the hardware market in both unit and dollar sales during December and the 2025 year, helping offset year-on-year declines across other platforms. PlayStation 5 (SONY) placed second across both measures and time periods. Nintendo Switch 2 (NTDOY) finished its 7th month in market with a life-to-date U.S. installed base of 4.4M units, nearly double the installed base of the original Nintendo Switch on a time-aligned basis. Nintendo Switch 2 remains the fastest selling video game console hardware platform in tracked history. Unit sales of Nintendo Switch 2 are 35% ahead of PlayStation 4’s sales pace after 7 months in market. Other publicly traded companies in the space include Electronic Arts (EA), GameStop (GME), NetEase (NTES), Microsoft (MSFT), Take-Two (TTWO), Tencent (TCEHY) and Ubisoft (UBSFY).