US Market Grows Slightly in February 2024 Despite Hardware Weakness

In February 2024, sales of video games, hardware and accessories in the US grew slightly to just under 4.7 billion dollar. While sales of game consoles declined sharply, sales of accessories and mobile revenues increased. Helldivers II, Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth and Skull and Bones were strong performers.

Projected total US spending on video game hardware, content and accessories grew two percent to 4.7 billion dollar, around 4,34 billion euros, compared to February 2023. Market research company Circana provided the data. Video game content revenues increased by five per cent year-on-year, driven by a 17 per cent increase in the mobile segment. However, spending on hardware decreased by 30 per cent, while spending on accessories increased by 25 per cent.

In February 2024, spending on video game hardware decreased by 30 per cent compared to February 2023 to 349 million dollar, around 323 million euros. "All console platforms were down a minimum of 19% compared to a year ago," said Mat Piscatella, Executive Director & Video Game Industry Analyst at Circana. The best-selling console in February and year-to-date was PlayStation 5, both in unit and dollar sales. Switch was number 2 in units for both periods, while Xbox Series X|S was number 2 in dollars. Accessories spending grew 25 percent to 219 million dollar, or approximately 202 million euros. This was driven by a 14 per cent increase in spending on gamepads and the remote play devices, which includes PlayStation Portal. "PlayStation Portal was the best-selling Accessory of February in dollar sales, while the PS5 Dual Sense Edge Wireless Controller remains the best-selling accessory of 2024 year-to-date," wrote Piscatella.

February's bestselling game, and the bestselling premium game of the year to date, is Helldivers 2, with around 60 per cent of sales coming from Steam. "The launch month dollar sales represent the 7th highest total ever achieved by a Sony published title in the U.S. (excludes add-on content)," says Piscatella. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth debuted in second place and the Final Fantasy VII Remake & Rebirth Twin Pack debuted in eighth place. Ubisoft's Skull and Bones also made it to fourth place, while Tekken 8, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and Persona 3 Reload remain in the top ten. Mario vs. Donkey Kong jumps to eleventh place, but without digital sales as Nintendo does not provide this data to Circana.

In terms of monthly active users on both PlayStation 5 and Xbox consoles, Fortnite leads this month, with Call of Duty HQ back in second place. Dead Island 2 was released on Xbox Game Pass Ultimate in February, helping the game from Plaion jump to eighth place on the February activity chart.

In the mobile segment, according to the data received by Circana from Sensor Tower, the top 10 were as follows: Monopoly Go!, Royal Match, Roblox, Candy Crush Saga, Pokémon Go, Coin Master, Whiteout Survival, Clash of Clans, Jackpot Party - Casino Slots, and Township. "The biggest news this month is that Sensor Tower data now shows that US mobile gaming spend is up a whopping 17% year-on-year in February 2024. This lift looks to be due to... games like Monopoly Go!, which didn't exist a year ago," said Samuel Aune of Sensor Tower. "Pokémon GO had some of its biggest annual events in February, leading to a 60% increase in spend for the month over its January 2024 revenue… Township drove 20% less spend than the previous month".

February US Top 20 bestselling games

(physical and full game digital sales from eShop, PlayStation, Steam and Xbox for publishers in the Digital Leaders Panel, ranked by dollar sales; from 4 February to 2 March) 1. (New) Helldivers 2 2. (New) Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth 3. (01.) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 4. (New) Skull and Bones 5. (02.) Tekken 8 6. (05.) Madden NFL 24 7. (03.) Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League 8. (New) Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Rebirth Twin Pack 9. (04.) Persona 3 Reload 10. (06.) Hogwarts Legacy 11. (New.) Mario vs. Donkey Kong12. (08.) EA Sports FC 24 13. (10.) Marvel's Spider-Man 2 14. (14.) Elden Ring 15. (11.) Super Mario Bros. Wonder16. (17.) Minecraft 17. (18.) Mario Kart 818. (15.) Mortal Kombat 1 19. (21.) Rainbow Six: Siege 20. (12.) Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
( without digital sales)

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