Circana: U.S. Gaming Market Declined by 7% in August 2024
Madden NFL 25 became the best-selling game for 25 consecutive years; Deadlock is the MAU leader in the US.
Market Overview
American consumer spending on gaming products in August reached $4.12 billion, down 7% compared to the previous year.
While mobile market revenue grew by 5%, it wasn't enough to reverse the negative trend. Total content sales dropped to $3.739 billion (-5% overall).
Hardware sales plummeted by 36% year-over-year. All consoles declined at least 34%, with the biggest drop for the Nintendo Switch (-41% YoY). The PS5 was the best-selling system in both revenue and unit sales.
Accessory sales decreased by 3%. PlayStation Portal sales (and the category of Remote Play devices) increased, though it’s unclear what other devices contributed besides Sony's. Gamepad sales fell by 10%. The DualSense controller was the top seller in terms of revenue, while PlayStation Portal led the category over the first 8 months of 2024.
As of August 2024, the U.S. market size stood at $36.3 billion. For the first 8 months of the year, results are 1% better than the same period in 2023. There was growth in content (+4% YoY, thanks to the mobile market) and accessories (+8% YoY). However, hardware sales were down 28% compared to 2023.
Best-Selling Games
Madden NFL 25 debuted at the top of the U.S. market. This marks the 25th consecutive year that the game has been the best-selling title in August, starting with Madden NFL 2001 in August 2000.
❗️Black Myth: Wukong did not make the chart because the publisher chose not to share digital sales data—only physical copies were considered. However, the game ranked 12th in MAU in the U.S.
Second place went to EA Sports College Football 25, third to Star Wars: Outlaws (new release), and fourth to the EA Sports MVP Bundle (which includes Madden NFL 25 and EA Sports College Football 25). It was an exceptionally successful month for EA.
Other new releases in the month included Visions of Mana (10th place) and Gundam Breaker 4 (11th place).
Consider subscribing to the GameDev Reports Premium tier to support the newsletter. Get access to the list of curated articles & archive of Gaming Reports that I’ve been collecting since 2020.
For overall 2024 sales, EA Sports College Football 25 leads, followed by Helldivers II and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. Although Madden NFL 25 launched recently, it has already climbed to 12th place.
The top mobile games in August were MONOPOLY GO!, Roblox, and Royal Match. Sensor Tower analysts noted that MONOPOLY GO! revenue was down 32% compared to its peak in March 2024, but it still managed to top the chart.
PC/Console Charts
On PlayStation, three new games entered the top 10: Madden NFL 25 (1st place), Star Wars: Outlaws (3rd place), and Visions of Mana (10th place).
There were also changes in the MAU ranking. Valorant climbed to 8th place, and Madden NFL 25 debuted at 9th. The top spots were still held by Fortnite, Call of Duty, and GTA V.
The Xbox sales chart almost mirroring PlayStation’s, except that Visions of Mana didn’t make the list.
The top MAU game on Xbox was Mafia: Definitive Edition, which joined Xbox Game Pass on August 13.
Only physical copies are counted in the Nintendo Switch sales charts, and there were no major new releases.
Deadlock became the MAU leader on Steam in August in the U.S., even though Valve did not heavily promote the game. Risk of Rain 2 climbed to 9th place.