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[Luminoth-4545]

Credit: Welfare from InstallBase

Circana December 2023: #1 MWIII #2 Wonder #3 Madden; PS5 #1 Units + Rev, Switch #2 [UP: PS5 and XBS set Unit records, Series X nearly 67% XBS]

State of the market Annual U.S. spending on video game content, hardware and accessories reached $57.2 billion in 2023, an increase of 1% when compared to 2022. December spending grew 4%, to $7.9 billion. Video game content spending ended 2023 1% higher than 2022, driven by a 13% increase in...

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State of the market

Annual U.S. spending on video game content, hardware and accessories reached $57.2 billion in 2023, an increase of 1% when compared to 2022. December spending grew 4%, to $7.9 billion.

Video game content spending ended 2023 1% higher than 2022, driven by a 13% increase in digital premium download (full game) spending on console platforms.

Hardware

Video game hardware spending ended 2023 flat vs YA, at $6.6B. Growth in PlayStation 5 hardware dollar sales helped offset declines across both Xbox Series and Switch. PlayStation 5 ended 2023 as the best-selling hardware platform in both units and dollars.

December hardware spending reached $1.6 billion, an increase of 4% when compared to December 2022. Growth in Xbox Series and PlayStation 5 hardware dollar sales offset a double-digit percentage decline for Nintendo Switch. PlayStation 5 was the best-selling hardware platform of December 2023 in both units and dollars, with Switch placing 2nd across each measure.

Dollar sales of Sony video game hardware set a new 1-month record for the manufacturer, beating the previous Sony high set in December 2022.

Software

Hogwarts Legacy finished as 2023’s best-selling video game in the U.S. market in dollar sales. It is the first year since 2008 that a non-Call of Duty or Rockstar developed title ranked 1st (Rock Band).

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III was both the best-selling game of Dec and the #2 best-selling game of 2023. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ended 2023 ranked 7th. Call of Duty was the best-selling franchise in U.S. full game dollar sales for a record 15th consecutive year.

Fortnite featured the highest unique monthly active users on both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles in the US market during December, while Lethal Company ranked 1st on Steam. 36% of active PlayStation 5 players (up from 31% in Nov) and 31% of active Xbox Series players (up from 28% in Nov) played Fortnite at least once during December. (Source: Circana Player Engagement Tracker)

Inclusion in subscription offerings again helped several titles see big boosts in active user counts in Dec. On PlayStation 5, PowerWash Simulator ranked 9th in monthly active users in Dec, up from #318 in Nov. On Xbox Series consoles, Goat Simulator bounded from 245th to 7th.

Mobile

Sensor Tower reports the top 10 mobile games by U.S. spend in Dec and rank chg vs Nov as: MONOPOLY GO!, Royal Match, Roblox, Candy Crush Saga, Clash of Clans (+9), Coin Master (-1), Evony (+2), Pokémon GO (-2), Call of Duty: Mobile (+3) and Jackpot Party – Casino Slots (-3).

“US mobile gaming consumer spend in December 2023 showed yet another modest increase (+2.7%) compared to December 2022," said Samuel Aune of Sensor Tower. "...while the top four (games) continue to be stable with MONOPOLY GO! on top, Clash of Clans made a huge run this month, moving up 9 ranks,” said Aune. “Clash of Clans wasn’t the only winner this month, with all the top ten showing revenue growth in Dec relative to Nov."

The top 10 mobile games by U.S. consumer spending in 2023 according to Sensor Tower were: MONOPOLY GO!, Candy Crush Saga, Roblox, Royal Match, Coin Master, Pokémon GO, Gardenscapes, Jackpot Party – Casino Slots, Township and Evony.

Accessories

Accessories spending finished the year 4% higher than a year ago, at $2.6 billion. A 7% increase in sales of Gamepads drove the growth. The PS5 Dual Sense Edge was the best-selling gamepad of 2023 in dollar sales.

December 2023 accessories spending was 14% higher than in December 2022, at $584 million. 21% growth in December sales of Gamepads was the primary reason for the increase. December Headset/Headphone spending grew by 5% year-on-year.

Software Charts

Year To Date

Monthly Active User Engagement

November 2023 Top 20 Games Played on PlayStation 5 Ranked by Monthly Active Users (US)

November 2023 Top 20 Games Played on Xbox Series Ranked by Monthly Active Users (US)

November 2023 Top 20 Games Played on Steam Ranked by Monthly Active Users (US)

Rankings
Units: PS5 > NSW > XBS
Revenue: PS5 > NSW > XBS

YTD Units: PS5 > NSW > XBS
YTD Revenue: PS5 > NSW > XBS

Thanks Mat Piscatella!


Update - more info
PS5 is a minimum of 10% up yoy (from 1331K), XBS had it's best December so it is above Dec 2021 (1076K) and NSW is a minimum of 10% down yoy (from 1490K).

Unit Sales
PS5 - > 1464K
NSW - < 1341K > XBS
XBS - > 1076K

Welfare's Estimates
PS5 - 1530K
NSW - 1250K
XBS - 1130K

 

[HeWhoWalks]

You couldn't spam the word "welp" enough.

 

[H-I-M]

Another month of Xbox being dead last behind the 7 YEARS old Switch, despite the price cuts, cheap Series S and generation defining games like Starfield.

We LOVE to see it.

 

[Luminoth-4545]

Update: December added

December Estimates
PS5 - 1530K
NSW - 1250K
XBS - 1130K

Full Estimations for 2023

Month	PS5	XBS	NSW
Jan-23	430,000	200,000	280,000
Feb-23	560,000	240,000	290,000
Mar-23	660,000	280,000	340,000
Apr-23	360,000	180,000	420,000
May-23	270,000	160,000	450,000
Jun-23	430,000	240,000	350,000
Jul-23	270,000	160,000	240,000
Aug-23	400,000	210,000	200,000
Sep-23	490,000	300,000	200,000
Oct -23	370,000	200,000	210,000
Nov - 23	1,050,000	580,000	570,000
Dec - 23	1,530,000	1,130,000	1,250,000
2023	6,830,000	3,880,000	4,800,000
LTD	18,730,000	13,580,000	44,210,000

Results for 2022 (NSW monthly numbers are Welfare's revised estimates but it's yearly total is from NPD, PS5 and XBS monthly and yearly total are from NPD)

Month	PS5	XBS	NSW
Jan-22	369,000	307,000	270,000
Feb-22	128,000	261,000	410,000
Mar-22	282,000	489,000	540,000
Apr-22	234,000	267,000	365,000
May-22	119,000	177,000	270,000
Jun-22	277,000	260,000	385,000
Jul-22	301,000	147,000	310,000
Aug-22	341,000	251,000	295,000
Sep-22	494,00	288,000	325,000
Oct-22	456,000	261,000	250,000
Nov-22	1,328,000	730,000	920,000
Dec-22	1,331,000	942,000	1,490,000
2022	5,660,000	4,480,000	5,830,000
LTD	11,900,000	9,700,000	39,410,000

 

[Topher]

 

[Darkness_Arises]

Hogwarts Legacy is probably the wokest game I have ever played. I have no idea what these people's issue with this game is. They have literally bent over backward to appease everybody in this game. It is also not that great of a game, objectively. OTOH I bought it for both PS4 and PC so maybe I love woke mediocrity

 

[jroc74]

You couldn't spam the word "welp" enough.

lol












Welp

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Hogwarts Legacy deserves that top spot, despite what some mentally ill psychos think it's actually a really good game and didn't sell just on its brand alone.

In my person goty list its my number 3 after FFXVI (#1) and Spidey 2 (#2).

 

[StormCell]

Why am I surprised that people are still buying Madden when I feel like there hasn't been a new NFL football game in well over a decade? I really do sorely miss having new NFL games to play and yet here's Madden cracking the top 3 in sales. WTF...

 

[SlimySnake]

Another month of Xbox being dead last behind the 7 YEARS old Switch, despite the price cuts, cheap Series S and generation defining games like Starfield.

We LOVE to see it.

Switch is effectively a handheld being sold to kids being born everyday. Its not a one per household console and should not be compared to either console.

 

[MikeM]

Hogwarts Legacy is probably the wokest game I have ever played. I have no idea what these people's issue with this game is. They have literally bent over backward to appease everybody in this game. It is also not that great of a game, objectively. OTOH I bought it for both PS4 and PC so maybe I love woke mediocrity

 

[Bernoulli]

 

[jm89]

Number #3 with all those discounts.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Lol, bye Phil.

On the real thoigh, how is cod 3 second this year when it's supposed to be dog shit?

 

[SlimySnake]

Spiderman 2 outsold Zelda despite being out for just three months. Absolutely crazy what a gold mine this turned out to be for Sony. Madness.

Starfield has respectable numbers despite being on gamepass even if it didnt finish in the top 10. Without gamepass i suspect it wouldve easily been in the top 7.

Good numbers for Jedi Survivor. Shame stig left. lets hope EA sees these numbers and lets them finish the franchise. 3 out of 10 is not a bad return for EA.

Sony needs to go all in on single player games. They are now outdoing fucking Nintendo when it comes to first party sales which is extremely impressive. Having 1 game ( none this year) per year is not enough. Kill all GaaS games and double the size of ND, GG, SSM, and Insomniac to ensure games come out once every 2-3 years instead of the 5-6 years they are taking today.

6 of the top ten games are non GaaS, non sports franchises. 4 are traditional single player. 1 Fighting Game and 1 dungeon crawler. CoD is literally the only GaaS franchise that still sells. Thats it.

 

[H-I-M]

Switch is effectively a handheld being sold to kids being born everyday. Its not a one per household console and should not be compared to either console.

Well it certainly isn't competing with the PS5 either, considering how it's being outsold 2:1 in the US and up to 20:1 in Europe.

 

[R3TRO]

Hogwarts did well, that’s nice to see.

 

[Mr Moose]

Lol, bye Phil.

On the real thoigh, how is cod 3 second this year when it's supposed to be dog shit?

People are idiots and buy the same shit every year.

I bought it. I'm lvl 250.

 

[Tal Shiar Agent]

Spiderman 2 outsold Zelda despite being out for just three months. Absolutely crazy what a gold mine this turned out to be for Sony. Madness.

Starfield has respectable numbers despite being on gamepass even if it didnt finish in the top 10. Without gamepass i suspect it wouldve easily been in the top 7.

Good numbers for Jedi Survivor. Shame stig left. lets hope EA sees these numbers and lets them finish the franchise. 3 out of 10 is not a bad return for EA.

Sony needs to go all in on single player games. They are now outdoing fucking Nintendo when it comes to first party sales which is extremely impressive. Having 1 game ( none this year) per year is not enough. Kill all GaaS games and double the size of ND, GG, SSM, and Insomniac to ensure games come out once every 2-3 years instead of the 5-6 years they are taking today.

6 of the top ten games are non GaaS, non sports franchises. 4 are traditional single player. 1 Fighting Game and 1 dungeon crawler. CoD is literally the only GaaS franchise that still sells. Thats it.

Doesn't Diablo 4 have a microtransaction store?

 

[Magic Carpet]

I bought Wonder and RPG the same day. Wish I had started Wonder first.
I'm abandoning Mario RPG. I can't finish this game. It's like watching Barney the Dinosaur on repeat with Teletubbies sprinkled in.

Wonder should be much better I hope.

 

[DenchDeckard]

People are idiots and buy the same shit every year.

I bought it. I'm lvl 250.

I'm just shocked it ranked higher than 2 last year when I thought that was supposed to be hyped out the wazoo

 

[Elios83]

Xbox in last place in the US in December while they were selling Series X at 350$ and Series S even below 200$ for the whole month.

 

[Killjoy-NL]

Sony needs to go all in on single player games. They are now outdoing fucking Nintendo when it comes to first party sales which is extremely impressive. Having 1 game ( none this year) per year is not enough. Kill all GaaS games and double the size of ND, GG, SSM, and Insomniac to ensure games come out once every 2-3 years instead of the 5-6 years they are taking today.

Thing is, they need more revenue to fund all those games you want.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I bought Wonder and RPG the same day. Wish I had started Wonder first.
I'm abandoning Mario RPG. I can't finish this game. It's like watching Barney the Dinosaur on repeat with Teletubbies sprinkled in.

Wonder should be much better I hope.

Wonder is genuine amazing!

Enjoy.

 

[SlimySnake]

Lol, bye Phil.

On the real thoigh, how is cod 3 second this year when it's supposed to be dog shit?

CoD has been effectively a sports franchise for the last 2 decades now. people will buy it regardless of quality. Activision found that only like 10% of people play the campaigns anyway so the campaign being shit doesnt really factor in for most buyers.

 

[Interfectum]

Dude... I thought Xbox would at least hit #2 in sales. They were giving those fucking things away. Holy shit.

 

[Darsxx82]

VS December 2022 "Growth in Xbox and PlayStation in hardware dollar sales…"

So if Xbox grew in dollars despite the heavy discounting that mean :

1- Or they sold more units vs Dec 2022 (920.000k).

2- Or they sold a greater proportion of Series X vs S, which would make sense given the prices.

We will see when we had numbers.

PS. That Switch is above in December does not surprise me in any way knowing the sales dynamics of XSeries and that Switch (1'5 millon Dec 2022) continues to be the reference console for children at Christmas and the default gaming laptop.

EDIT: It seems that it is the 1- and XSeries sold more units than Dec 2022...

 

[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Looks like on the purple forum some people are pretty upset that Hogwarts Legacy finished as the best-selling video game in the US last year.

 

[tommib]

Hogwarts supremacy. I love it how on the RetarDed forum they kept downplaying it as the game no one really cared, that it had it’s 15 moments of fame.

Harry Potter is arguably the strongest IP out there. Stronger than ever.

 

[LordCBH]

OOOOOOOOOF

Didn’t MS have these things on fire sale like all month?

 

[graywolf323]

awesome to see Hogwarts pulled off #1 for the year

also holy crap, I honestly thought Xbox wouldn’t finish last in America with all the $350-400 deals they ran in December

 

[SlimySnake]

Looks like on the purple forum some people are pretty upset that Hogwarts Legacy finished as the best-selling video game in the US last year.

the funniest thing is that the game is woke as fuck with all diverse races in the student and faculty bodies, and has a major trans character in the game. Not hidden in some side quests but is there in the very first main quest and makes repeated cutscene appearances. These fucking idiots are absolutely clueless.

 

[Interfectum]

I think the words this guy is looking for are "sad" and "depressing" instead of "amazing"

Dude is in an echo chamber by choice and celebrating ignorance.

 

[Sanepar]

Xbox is dead

 

[Horseganador]

PS5 breaking records during December at $499 and Spiderman 2 ends the year as the best-selling exclusive in the USA, while Xbox despite its strong discounts was last again, the brand's debacle is real.

 

[Mr Hyde]

PS5 has entered the supernova phase of the PS2

 

[GHG]

Dude... I thought Xbox would at least hit #2 in sales. They were giving those fucking things away. Holy shit.

Huge misalignment between the discourse online and what goes on in the real world.

 

[Codes 208]

Daaayumn

Thats a major oof. Though im part of the problem (i bought a ps5 instead despite of the price cut lol)

 

[[Sigma]]

Spidey 2 took down COD on PlayStation.

 

[demigod]

3rd place with a firesale going on. No wonder why Nutella is not happy after spending $80 billion.

 

[Mibu no ookami]

PS5 has entered the supernova phase of the PS2

People continue to minimize the impact that the PS5 Pro could have on the market. Sony doesn't NEED the PS5 Pro, but Xbox still has no answer for it. That will cause a domino effect, especially with a base model PS5 price drop.

Maybe not quite PS2 levels, but we should see an end of cycle result ahead of the PS4. We could be looking at 130 million units lifetime and that doesn't really include a PS5 handheld down the line.

 

[Woopah]

Very interesting that the PS5 saw decline in November but growth in December. 25 million might still be on track.

Also surprised how high Hogwarts is on the Switch list.

Switch is effectively a handheld being sold to kids being born everyday. Its not a one per household console and should not be compared to either console.

Its a dedicated video game device, and can be compared in the same way video game hardware has always been compared.

Spiderman 2 outsold Zelda despite being out for just three months. Absolutely crazy what a gold mine this turned out to be for Sony. Madness.

Remember that the charts include digital for Sony games but not for Nintendo.

 

[Pelta88]

Certain Phil Spencer "Evangelists" right now like...

 

[SlimySnake]

Xbox is dead

It sold more than it did last year, so i wouldnt say its dead. I am sure those $349 sales reduced its dollar revenue compared to PS5 Spiderman and MW3 bundles which were going for $500.

Id say its not looking good especially after those discounts. Pretty sure it sold less than the xbox one same time this gen.

 

[Darsxx82]

This puts XSeries in ~1.1 -1.2 million? .....

 

[onQ123]

Spiderman 2 outsold Zelda despite being out for just three months. Absolutely crazy what a gold mine this turned out to be for Sony. Madness.

Starfield has respectable numbers despite being on gamepass even if it didnt finish in the top 10. Without gamepass i suspect it wouldve easily been in the top 7.

Good numbers for Jedi Survivor. Shame stig left. lets hope EA sees these numbers and lets them finish the franchise. 3 out of 10 is not a bad return for EA.

Sony needs to go all in on single player games. They are now outdoing fucking Nintendo when it comes to first party sales which is extremely impressive. Having 1 game ( none this year) per year is not enough. Kill all GaaS games and double the size of ND, GG, SSM, and Insomniac to ensure games come out once every 2-3 years instead of the 5-6 years they are taking today.

6 of the top ten games are non GaaS, non sports franchises. 4 are traditional single player. 1 Fighting Game and 1 dungeon crawler. CoD is literally the only GaaS franchise that still sells. Thats it.

There is an * though

 

[Luminoth-4545]

The PS5 is a minimum of 10% higher than last December, the XBS is higher than it's December 2021 total of 1076K and the Switch has to be above XBS but below 1.34M if last years estimate was accurate. Despite being in third place the XBS hasn't done too bad, it is that Switch held up better than expected.

DEC 2023
PS5 - > 1.46M
NSW - < 1.34M > XBS
XBS - > 1.076M

DEC 2022
NSW - 1.49M est.
PS5 - 1.33M
XBS - 942K

Welfare is probing Mat so he can get some accurate estimates, still awaiting his estimates though.

 

[demigod]

Very interesting that the PS5 saw decline in November but growth in December. 25 million might still be on track.

Also surprised how high Hogwarts is on the Switch list.


Its a dedicated video game device, and can be compared in the same way video game hardware has always been compared.

Remember that the charts include digital for Sony games but not for Nintendo.

Not really, there’s a thing called Xmas.

 

[Woopah]

Yes Xbox is in third, but showing growth and achieving a new record shows that it being behind Switch isn't necessarily a bad thing.

 

[Kabelly]

Switch is effectively a handheld being sold to kids being born everyday. Its not a one per household console and should not be compared to either console.

Is that the argument we're using now? Pretty grand generalization. I don't think most people can throw $300 around for all their kids. If anything Switch emphasises local co-op more than any other console so why would you need more than one.

Switch is still selling because after 7 years you have a plethora of high quality, highly rated games to choose from now. Now is the best time to buy a Swtich.

Xbox is dead last because they have fuck-all. Redfall? dead in a ditch. Hi-Fi Rush ? An unmarketed shadow drop indie title. Starfield? All the anticipation for Bethesda's next gen title was quickly squandered. Still having to release "big patches!!" because companies like to release unfinished games.

What other big exclusives does xbox series x/s have right now from the previous years that would drive people to the ecosytem? Can't think of one.

Playstation you got your TLOU, God of War, Spiderman's and so much more.

Always see people ask "what could xbox have done!?" Maybe release some games people actually want to play instead of spending billions of dollars to poach multiplat titles. Even after the acquisition COD might still be on Playstation so really who's winning here?