U.S. Video Game Spending Fell to $4.1 Billion in April 2024
According to Circana, the drop was driven by decreased hardware sales.
According to Circana, U.S. spending on video game hardware, content, and accessories fell to $4.1 billion in April 2024, a 3% decrease year-over-year, and a decrease from $4.9 billion in March 2024.
In Circana’s report, video game content accounted for physical and digital games, DLC/MTX, and subscriptions across consoles, the cloud, mobile devices, portable devices, PC, and VR platforms. Mobile spending data was provided by Sensor Tower.
Mat Piscatella, executive director of video games at Circana, said: “A 2% increase in content spending could not offset a 43% drop in hardware and a 4% decline in Accessories.”
Stellar Blade was the best-selling video game in the U.S. in April 2024, followed by Helldivers II, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023), Sea of Thieves, and Fallout 4 in the top five.
The large increases seen by Sea of Thieves and Fallout 4 can be attributed to the recent release of Sea of Thieves on PlayStation platforms and the recent release of the Fallout television series.
Breaking down video game sales by platform, Circana found Stellar Blade was the best-selling game on PlayStation platforms in April 2024. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023) was the best-selling game on Xbox platforms for the month, and Princess Peach: Showtime was the best-selling game on Nintendo platforms in April 2024.
Finally, when looking at the most-played games, Call of Duty HQ was the most-played game on PlayStation 5 in April 2024 by monthly active users (MAU) in the U.S., Fortnite was the most-played game on Xbox Series in April 2024 by MAU in the U.S, and Helldivers II was the most-played game on Steam in April 2024 by MAU in the U.S.
