Circana - April 2025 U.S. Video Game Market Highlights - Oblivion Remastered #1, Forza Horizon 5 #2, MLB The Show '25 #3

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Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Credit to Welfare Welfare for the formatting.




State of the market
April 2025 total market projected U.S. consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories fell 3% when compared to a year ago, to $4.1B. 2025 year-to-date spending was 8% behind 2024's pace, at $17.8B. April video game content spending declined by 2% compared to a year ago, to $3.7B. 18% YoY growth in non-mobile subscription spend and a 16% gain in Console digital premium downloads were offset by declines in other content segments.


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Hardware
April hardware spending fell by 8% when compared to a year ago, to $186M. It was the lowest monthly hardware dollar sales total reached in the US market since July 2020 ($163M).

PlayStation 5 dollar sales declined 5% in April compared to a year ago, but the platform once again led the hardware market in both dollar and unit sales. Switch hardware spending fell 37% in April vs YA, while Xbox Series grew 8%.

Software
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Remastered sold more units in Apr 2025 than The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion achieved across its first 15 months in market combined following its March 2006 debut and generated more full game dollar sales than the original's first 14 months combined.

Calir Obscure: Expedition 33 had a great US launch. It ranked 19th in April MAU on Xbox and 21st on Steam (Circana Player Engagement Tracker). It also placed among the top 35 sellers of April overall and top 25 on PlayStation (Circana Retail Tracking Service, physical only). It launched Apr 24th.

Mobile
Sensor Tower: Top 10 mobile games by U.S. spend in Apr and chg vs Mar: MONOPOLY GO!, Royal Match, Candy Crush Saga, Last War: Survival, Whiteout Survival, Township (+2), Coin Master, Pokémon TCG Pocket (+1), Gossip Harbor: Merge & Story (+5) and Pokémon GO (-4).

"While April 2025 showed a slight decline in the U.S. mobile games market compared to March, several top games continued to perform strongly," said Lexi Wei of Sensor Tower. "Gossip Harbor: Merge & Story experienced the most significant ranking improvement this month.... driven by a 9.8% increase in consumer spending, largely attributed to the Easter Jamboree event… which introduced new decorative content and gameplay elements," Wei said.

Accessories
April spending on accessories fell by 2% when compared to a year ago, to $166 million. The PS5 Dual Sense Wireless Controller Midnight Black was April's best-selling accessory in both unit and dollar sales.

Software Charts
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Year to Date
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Monthly Active User Engagement
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Rankings
Units: PS5 > XBS > NSW
Revenue: PS5 > XBS > NSW

Updates
Xbox Series unit sales increased in Week 4 over Week 3.
 
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adamsapple adamsapple Please try using the format from installbase for your OP. Piscatela is known for taking down his posts randomly just because he feels like it.

 
adamsapple adamsapple Please try using the format from installbase for your OP. Piscatela is known for taking down his posts randomly just because he feels like it.


like pictures of all of his tweets / blueskeets?

Other than the charts, he also has verbiage in the skeets that's got info too. Will replace thems hortly.
 
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like pictures of all of his tweets / blueskeets?

Other than the charts, he also has verbiage in the skeets that's got info too. Will replace thems hortly.
Yeah, he ruined a few of my Circana threads because he deleted his tweets. You can take all the text and images from the IB thread I've linked. Just be sure to credit Welfare in your OP, and that should be it.
 
Microsoft when they finally release games that sell.
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But for real though, that's a solid lineup. It only took them 15 years and $100 billion but better late than never.
 
Why is Expedition 33 not listed anywhere?

It looks like CO:E33 only has its physical sales tracked by Circana, and the publisher isn't participating in the 'digital panel'

Calir Obscure: Expedition 33 had a great US launch. It ranked 19th in April MAU on Xbox and 21st on Steam (Circana Player Engagement Tracker). It also placed among the top 35 sellers of April overall and top 25 on PlayStation (Circana Retail Tracking Service, physical only). It launched Apr 24th.
 
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This has to eat MS up. They almost had the games, they almost made it, but were forced to go multiplatform right before they all came out.

They walked for 40 years in the desert only to be struck down(to 3rd party) by greed right before reaching the promised land.
 
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Was the price increase already happening on the XSeries? It's surprising that it sold more this year than last. If it's still happening with the increased price, then it would be something worth studying.
Why is Expedition 33 not listed anywhere?
Good question 🤔

PS. Oblivion Remake is a hit. FH5 perhaps the most profitable XBOXStudios game this decade. Good resulta for Indiana Jones.
 
There's an awful lot of Xfans patting themselves on the back, for third party games selling better on Playstation. Weird flex.

Sure is as a stock holder, who actually gives a shit where anyone plays a game?

I would rather see 5 million active Forza players, 5 million Halo players, I want the most active a game can be to get the most employment out of it any gamer should want this.
 
Sure is as a stock holder, who actually gives a shit where anyone plays a game?

I would rather see 5 million active Forza players, 5 million Halo players, I want the most active a game can be to get the most employment out of it any gamer should want this.
By your posts over the years, you absolutely give a shit where anyone plays. You don't care now, because Microsoft doesn't care anymore. What a coincidence.
 
Sony executives when see this results: We think is a good idea to release our games on every platform… Is going to happen eventually guys.
How do you figure? Sony exclusives still chart and sell. MS games have not done so in a long time prior to coming to PlayStation. Why would they open their exclusives to a platform that doesn't buy games any longer and was forced to port to them?
 
PS5 dominating sales for another month. Looking at the list of best-selling games, it's no wonder Xbox is porting everything it can to PS5 as quickly as possible. We'll see what May is like with the price increases Xbox has made for everything.
 
How do you figure? Sony exclusives still chart and sell. MS games have not done so in a long time prior to coming to PlayStation. Why would they open their exclusives to a platform that doesn't buy games any longer and was forced to port to them?
To achieve more sales. Launching +2 years old games on others consoles is not a bad idea and is not going to hurt the Playstation fanboys feelings (I think)
 
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wtf?! First y'all tell me that Xbox games will never be on PlayStation. Then y'all tell me Xbox has no games. Then it's "Foamstars, Forspoken and South of Midnight are game of the year contenders." Then it's, "wait until 2025 to buy an Xbox Series X because there will be a significant price decrease and that it will have the best exclusives and that developers are thrilled to create games exclusively for the Xbox platform.

I'm not going to believe any of your fools ever again.
 
How do you figure? Sony exclusives still chart and sell. MS games have not done so in a long time prior to coming to PlayStation. Why would they open their exclusives to a platform that doesn't buy games any longer and was forced to port to them?
Especially on Xbox, where game sales go to die.
 
Then y'all tell me Xbox has no games. Then it's "Foamstars, Forspoken and South of Midnight are game of the year contenders." Then it's, "wait until 2025 to buy an Xbox Series X because there will be a significant price decrease and that it will have the best exclusives and that developers are thrilled to create games exclusively for the Xbox platform.

I'm not going to believe any of your fools ever again.
Nobody said that
 
wtf?! First y'all tell me that Xbox games will never be on PlayStation. Then y'all tell me Xbox has no games. Then it's "Foamstars, Forspoken and South of Midnight are game of the year contenders." Then it's, "wait until 2025 to buy an Xbox Series X because there will be a significant price decrease and that it will have the best exclusives and that developers are thrilled to create games exclusively for the Xbox platform.

I'm not going to believe any of your fools ever again.

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