Circana June 2025: #2 Death Stranding 2 #3 Mario Kart World #10 Rune Factory ; Switch 2 sold 1.6M, Mario Kart retail + bundle 82% attach rate (~1.3M)

Thick Thighs Save Lives

Thick Thighs Save Lives

NeoGAF's Physical Games Advocate Extraordinaire
State of the market

Nintendo Switch 2 debuted as the fastest selling video game hardware device in US history, while consumer spending in both video game hardware and accessories reached new all-time June records. June 2025 projected U.S. total spending on video game hardware, content and accessories increased 22% when compared to a year ago, to $5.7 billion. Year-to-date spending is 2% behind 2024's pace, at $27.5 billion.

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Hardware

June hardware spending increased by 249% when compared to a year ago, to $978M. This is a record high for hardware spending in a June month, surpassing the $608M reached in June 2008. Nintendo Switch 2 sold 1.6M units in June, the highest launch month unit sales for video game hardware in US history. The previous high was the 1.1M units of PlayStation 4 sold during November 2013. Nintendo Switch 2 was June's best-selling video game hardware in both units and dollars, while PlayStation 5 remained the best-seller year-to-date across both measures.

Software

June video game content spending grew by 6% when compared to a year ago, to $4.4 billion. The increase was driven by a 19% gain in Console content, primarily from the launch of Nintendo Switch 2. Non-mobile video game subscription spending increased by 32% compared to June 2024, to $562M. This is an all-time high for a single month.

Elden Ring: Nightrein repeated as the best-selling premium video game of the month, while Death Stranding 2: On the Beach ranked 2nd. Mario Kart World physical sales placed 3rd. (sales of software bundled with hardware are not included in the best-selling title charts). 82% of Nintendo Switch 2 buyers during June also acquired Mario Kart World either via a physical new game sale or as part of the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle (excludes standalone digital).

Stellar Blade jumped from 185th a month ago to 5th on the June best-selling games chart following its PC release, while Cyberpunk 2077 ranked 18th in June after placing 427th a month ago with its Nintendo Switch 2 debut.

Mobile

Sensor Tower reports the top 10 games by U.S. consumer spending in June and the change from May as: MONOPOLY GO!, Royal Match, Last War: Survival, Candy Crush Saga, Whiteout Survival, Pokémon GO (+7), Township (-1), Coin Master, Clash Royale (+2) and Royal Kingdom (+5).

"Pokémon GO held its annual Pokémon GO Fest, which historically drives one of its biggest revenue spikes of the year. This year's spike looks comparable to last year's," said Sam Aune of Sensor Tower.

Accessories

June accessories spending reached $293M, an all-time high for a June month. The previous high was the $247M achieved during June 2021. The Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller reached a 32% attach rate to Nintendo Switch 2 hardware during its launch month and was June's best-selling accessory in dollars.

Software Charts

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Rankings

Units: NS2 > PS5 > NSW > XBS
Revenue: NS2> PS5 > XBS > NSW

Updates

Welfare estimates
  • NS2 ~1600K
  • PS5: ~300K
  • NSW: ~96K
  • XBS: ~68K

1H 2025
  • PS5: ~1640K
  • NS2 ~1600K
  • XBS: ~700K
  • NSW: ~670K
Thanks Mat Piscatella & Welfare!
 
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RetroGamingUK said:
Well done Death Stranding 2

People should have waited instead of jumping on the digital news. This is the kind of game to buy physically for your collection.

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Dude, DS2 isn't even in the top 20 YTD lol. It failed to outsell $40 ER despite having higher MSRP on Revenue based chart.

Doom dark age managed to chart to the top 20 YTD during its launch week and Doom dark age is considered as a flop by many users here.
 
kaizenkko said:
So? Piscatella said that DS2 is #26 YTD, I don't think it's bad. Probably will top #20 until the end of the year.
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Not going to enter top 20 for the rest of the year since the sales is already falling off the cliff based on Playstation store software ranking. Single player games usually sold most of their copies in their launch week with an exception to titles like Mario, Zelda, Spider-Man, and etc.
 
Comparing a game like Death Stranding 2 to an IP like Doom is ridiculous. DS2 ain't a game for everyone and that's okay. Dark Ages is also selling behind Astro Bot on US psn currently.
 
pulicat said:
Dude, DS2 isn't even in the top 20 YTD lol. It failed to outsell $40 ER despite having higher MSRP on Revenue based chart.

Doom dark age managed to chart to the top 20 YTD during its launch week and Doom dark age is considered as a flop by many users here.
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In June someone said the same thing about Doom.
Last month someone was making a similar argument for why they thought Nightreign was doing poorly "it's behind Civ7 YTD. It did poorly"

Now we're doing the same with DS2.

The game is selling fine and will continue to do so. Also, you can't make hit/miss calls with less than 1 month's worth of data halfway through the year.


Thick Thighs Save Lives Thick Thighs Save Lives Do they not break down accessories anymore? Or have they always just said which accessory is #1?
 
Loomy said:
Thick Thighs Save Lives Thick Thighs Save Lives Do they not break down accessories anymore? Or have they always just said which accessory is #1?
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I don't think NPD/Circana has done that in quite some time. There's separate written segment in my OP for accessories where Mat provides some additional details beyond just total spending (usually just the best selling accessory like you pointed out in your post), but that's about it.
 
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pulicat said:
Dude, DS2 isn't even in the top 20 YTD lol. It failed to outsell $40 ER despite having higher MSRP on Revenue based chart.

Doom dark age managed to chart to the top 20 YTD during its launch week and Doom dark age is considered as a flop by many users here.
Click to expand...

You want so hard for some reasons for DS2 to be a flop, but it's clear that it's selling well.
Let it go.
 
Thick Thighs Save Lives said:
I don't think NPD/Circana has done that in quite some time. There's separate written segment in my OP for accessories where Mat provides some additional details beyond just total spending (usually just the best selling accessory like you pointed out in your post), but that's about it.
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Yeah I saw that. Wasn't sure if I was imagining a time where they showed a more detailed breakdown.
 
Every normie who even conceptualized Death Stranding:
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That's the thing about these artsy types like Kojima. They have great vision and talent but money has kept them on track over the years. The older we get the more we dive into our eccentricity. The more we lose touch and go into our own. With major investors not pushing him to stay on track, we get a game that is hard to sell to normies or anyone really. I bet a lot of PS fans on here who will defend DS2 haven't even bought it yet. I have to pretend to make myself excited. Weird.

After the first game was rejected one would assume the 2nd game would be a lot different to please audiences.
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RetroGamingUK said:
Well done Death Stranding 2

People should have waited instead of jumping on the digital news. This is the kind of game to buy physically for your collection.

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Still seems like it's underperformed tho.
kaizenkko said:
DS2 was release on june 26.
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True but tracking period was through July 5th. And this is a AAA single-player game; we know they tend to get most of their sales in the first week.

Sephiran said:
Given how quickly DS2 is collapsing on both retail charts as well as PS store charts, its legs won't be strong enough for it to enter top 20 YTD charts.
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Yeah there's no reason to avoid saying it's underperformed at this point, considering we've also seen it underperform in markets like Japan and UK, relative the first game's sales at its launch.

I have to blame some of that on lack of traditional advertisements. Have yet to see a single TV advert for the game; has anyone seen any at the cinema for recent movies they've watched? You think Kojima would love some of that attention to get word out but it feels SIE gave the game a beggar's budget for marketing. Super weird.

Horseganador said:
I didn't expect Xbox to still be behind the original Switch in the US the month of Switch 2's launch. There won't be any changes in console sales until GTAVI.
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GTA6 won't do much to save Xbox at this point, but I can see that being a month PS5 easily outsells Switch 2 in units & revenue.

However, I'm also one of those dudes who feels the effect of GTA6 boosting PS5 sales is overstated by many, as in: most who want that game already have a PS5 by this point, as they've known of the game's existence officially for going on two years. Consoles will still get a sales boost, but nowhere to the level analysts are hyping IMHO.

Especially since there won't be a bundle for the game, either. So basically, I'm not expecting the PS5 surge to last terribly long once GTA6 is out, be that as it may.

Zacfoldor said:
Every normie who even conceptualized Death Stranding:
2c1vkm7ath5f1.gif

That's the thing about these artsy types like Kojima. They have great vision and talent but money has kept them on track over the years. The older we get the more we dive into our eccentricity. The more we lose touch and go into our own. With major investors not pushing him to stay on track, we get a game that is hard to sell to normies or anyone really. I bet a lot of PS fans on here who will defend DS2 haven't even bought it yet. I have to pretend to make myself excited. Weird.

After the first game was rejected one would assume the 2nd game would be a lot different to please audiences.
blu1304-meme-2k-v3.jpg
Click to expand...

This would hit better if there was any real advertising for the game. But as far as I can tell, there's been none. So it's hard for normies to turn down a game they probably don't even know exists in the first place!

Feels very un-PlayStation like, the lack of traditional marketing for this game when you'd think it'd get similar treatment to big AAA PlayStation exclusives in that regard. Maybe Kojima thought his name has sway with the mainstream non-gamers? Was Norman Reedus and other celebs featured hyping the game near launch on their socials? Feels like there was nothing.
 
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"82% of Nintendo Switch 2 buyers during June also acquired Mario Kart World either via a physical new game sale or as part of the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle (excludes standalone digital)."

Where are the people that said that Mario Kart World was not a good launch title? 🤣
 
LordOcidax said:
For an exclusive…. is a flop.
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Based on what? An exclusive has actually a smaller market to sell to, the original game was simply not a mega IP selling over 10m units in a few months.
It's not a mainstream game, the original wasn't either.
The sequel is selling well, its absolutely not a flop unless you create your own fantasy standard that a first party game with a PlayStation logo means 10m copies and it really doesn't, it depends on the IP.
 
adamsapple said:
Despite RetroGamingUK RetroGamingUK post 1 damage control. :messenger_grinning_sweat:

It's also reportedly doing worse in EU and Japan in comparable metrics. Looks like Kojima got his divisive game he wanted.
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Late ports to other platforms will help but I think this will be it for the Death Stranding IP.

I'd love to see Kojima do a horror action game. I'm not holding my breath though.
 
Elios83 said:
Based on what? An exclusive has actually a smaller market to sell to, the original game was simply not a mega IP selling over 10m units in a few months.
It's not a mainstream game, the original wasn't either.
The sequel is selling well, its absolutely not a flop unless you create your own fantasy standard that a first party game with a PlayStation logo means 10m copies and it really doesn't, it depends on the IP.
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70 Million+ install base, exclusive, great reviews scores + great marketing from Sony + Kojima + A game designed for PlayStation Hardcore audience (Story driven, amazingly graphics)… etc etc etc.
 
LordOcidax said:
"82% of Nintendo Switch 2 buyers during June also acquired Mario Kart World either via a physical new game sale or as part of the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle (excludes standalone digital)."

Where are the people that said that Mario Kart World was not a good launch title? 🤣
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What's the split between those who purchased it seperatley and those who had to get it part of a bundle?
 
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Mr Moose said:
It won't set the charts on fire, it's a niche title like the first one. It seems to be doing OK.
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Not surprising it's doing just OK. Which I think is good enough for what it is.

Kojima should've just kept it to one single game.
Skipped DS2 myself, somehow playing a sequel would feel like a chore. Probably many others feeling the same and newcomers might just be weirded out by it, because Kojima..
 
LordOcidax said:
70 Million+ install base, exclusive, great reviews scores + great marketing from Sony + Kojima + A game designed for PlayStation Hardcore audience (Story driven, amazingly graphics)… etc etc etc.
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So was the original, actually the original was pushed much harder, it simply wasn't a big commercial success, the concept is niche.
It's an auteur game, like the Ueda games.
At some point there were rumors that because of the low sales of DS, Sony was not going to greenlight a sequel, they were parting ways with Kojima, Kojima was going Xbox.
All things proved wrong but it just shows that pretending that DS is a mega IP is a false assumption.
The sequel is doing well, it won't set new records or set the charts on fire, that's all.
 
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