- Mat Piscatella
- Sep 4
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 9
July in Review
Monthly Spending (USD, Millions)
Total: $5,051 (+5% vs YA)
Content: $4,480 (+4%)
Hardware: $384 (+21%)
Accessories: $187 (-8%)
Source: Circana Games Market Dynamics
Mobile Spending Surge Helps Push US Video Game Spending 5% Higher in July
A big month for Garena’s Free Fire helped lift video game content spending higher in July compared to a year ago, while Nintendo Switch 2 drove gains in hardware (while surpassing 2 million units sold along the way).
July 2025 projected U.S. total spending across video game hardware, content and accessories grew 5% when compared to a year ago, to $5.1 billion. Year-to-date spending was 1% behind 2024’s pace, at $32.6 billion.
Monthly hardware spending grew 21% when compared to a year ago, to $384M. This is the highest hardware spending in a July month since the $441M achieved in July 2008.
Nintendo Switch 2 drove July’s hardware spending growth. July dollar sales of PS5 hardware fell 47% compared to a year ago, while Xbox Series spending dropped by 69%. Nintendo Switch spending declined 52% year-on-year.
Nintendo Switch 2 has now surpassed 2 million units sold in the US life-to-date. It is currently 75% ahead of the unit sales pace set by the original Nintendo Switch.
July video game content spending increased 4% when compared to a year ago, to $4.5 billion. The increase was driven by growth in the mobile (+7% in July compared to a year ago, to $2.3 billion) and non-mobile subscription (+21%, $0.5 billion) segments, which offset a 9% drop in spending on Console content.
Year-to-date spending on non-mobile video game subscription services was 19% higher than a year ago, at $3.6B.
EA Sports College Football 26 was the best-selling premium video game of July, while the EA Sports MVP Bundle ranked 2nd. For the 2025 year-to-date period, EA Sports College Football 26 debuted as the #3 best-selling title with the EA Sports MVP Bundle placing 12th.
Donkey Kong Bananza’s physical sales were high enough to place it 3rd on July’s best-selling games chart while ranking 20th for 2025 year-to-date. It was also the best-selling game of July on Nintendo platforms.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 ranked among the top 4 best-selling games of the month on each of the PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo and aggregated PC platforms charts.
Year-to-Date Spending (USD, Millions)
Total: $32,588 (-1% vs YA)
Content: $28,667 (-2%)
Hardware: $2,467 (+18%)
Accessories: $1,453 (-6%)
Top 10 Selling Video Games (Retail and Digital), July 2025
Rank | Rank Last Month | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | NEW | EA Sports College Football 26 | Electronic Arts |
2 | NEW | EA Sports MVP Bundle (2025) | Electronic Arts |
3 | NEW | Donkey Kong Bananza* | Nintendo |
4 | NEW | Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 | Microsoft (Corp) |
5 | 4 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 | Microsoft (Corp) |
6 | 8 | Minecraft^ | Multiple Video Game Publishers |
7 | 6 | Forza Horizon 5 | Microsoft (Corp) |
8 | NEW | Grounded 2 | Microsoft (Corp) |
9 | 15 | Red Dead Redemption II | Take-Two Interactive |
10 | 9 | Grand Theft Auto V | Take-Two Interactive |
* Digital sales not included for marked titles ^ Digital sales on Nintendo platforms not included ^^ Digital sales on Nintendo and Xbox platforms not included
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Top 10 Selling Video Games (Retail and Digital), Year-to-Date 2025
Rank | Rank Last Month | Title | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Monster Hunter: Wilds | Capcom USA |
2 | 2 | The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Remastered | Microsoft (Corp) |
3 | NEW | EA Sports College Football 26 | Electronic Arts |
4 | 3 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 | Microsoft (Corp) |
5 | 4 | MLB: The Show 25^^ | Multiple Video Game Publishers |
6 | 5 | Kingdom Come: Deliverance II | Plaion |
7 | 6 | WWE 2K25 | Take-Two Interactive |
8 | 7 | Elden Ring: Nightreign | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
9 | 8 | Split Fiction | Electronic Arts |
10 | 9 | NBA 2K25 | Take-Two Interactive |
^ Digital sales on Nintendo platforms not included ^^ Digital sales on Nintendo and Xbox platforms not included
