The Circana analyst Mat Piscatella shared the first report on the state of the American market in 2026. Here are the key points.
- In January 2026, American consumers spent a total of $4.69 billion on video games, hardware, and accessories. This represents a 3% increase from the previous year.
- The majority of spending was on video games, totaling $4.3 billion. Spending on console and PC titles increased by 2% and 1% respectively, while mobile revenue declined by 1%.
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 remained the leader of the sales charts* in terms of dollar revenue. The only new entry was Code Vein II, debuting at the 11th spot.
- Final Fantasy VII Remake showed significant growth, climbing to the 9th place (+216 positions), largely due to the release of the Nintendo Switch 2 version. Helldivers 2 also returned to the top 20.
- Sales of gaming hardware continued their traditional decline, dropping to $248 million (-16% year-over-year). Despite a 17% decrease, PlayStation 5 remained the leader both in revenue and units sold, followed by the Switch 2. Spending on the Xbox Series decreased by 27%.
*Recall that not all new releases are available on disc, and Circana receives digital sales data only from a limited list of major publishers and platform holders. Therefore, indie projects or titles from smaller studios rarely appear in the charts.
Top 20 Best-Selling Games in the USA in 2025 According to Circana:
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
- NBA 2K26
- Madden NFL 26
- Minecraft^
- Battlefield 6
- EA Sports FC 26
- GTA V
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Final Fantasy VII Remake
- Forza Horizon 5
- Code Vein II (new title)
- Ghost of Yotei
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
- EA Sports College Football 26
- Helldivers 2
- Pokemon Legends: Z-A*
- Split Fiction
- Elden Ring
- Flight Simulator 2024
- Fallout 4
* — excluding digital sales.
^ — excluding digital sales on Nintendo Switch.