Strong release slate can’t avoid sales dip in October | US Monthly Charts

October snapped a five-month streak of year-over-year growth in US consumer spending on games, according to the latest report from Circana.

US consumers spent $4.04 billion on gaming for the month, down 5% year-over-year, the first decline for the industry since another 5% dip in April.

A significant chunk of the decline was driven by shifting release dates for the Call of Duty series. Last year’s October numbers benefitted from the launch of the best-selling Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, while this year’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was released in the November reporting period.

This year’s October still boasted a strong crop of new releases, with six games debuting in the Top Ten software charts.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 claimed the top spot, relegating Super Mario Bros. Wonder to second place, although their figures aren’t quite an apples-to-apples comparison as Circana does not report digital sales of Nintendo first-party titles.

As for other big new releases, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage managed third place, while UFC 5, NHL 24, and Sonic Superstars took the seventh, eighth, and ninth spots, respectively.

By Circana’s numbers, Spider-Man 2 is already the fourth best-selling game of the year, behind only Hogwarts Legacy, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, and Madden NFL 24 in that order.

One new release not included on the chart is the PlayStation version of free-to-play platform Roblox, which Circana said ranked fourth among all PS5 titles for monthly active users, behind Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Fortnite and Spider-Man 2.

On the mobile front, Circana partner Sensor Tower found consumer spending up 2.1% year-over-year, with Monopoly Go retaining its position as the highest grossing title.

Sensor Tower also singled out Clash of Clans and Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes as established games seeing the largest month-over-month revenue growth in October. Clash of Clans jumped eight spots on the highest grossing chart, while Galaxy of Heroes boosted its revenue 66% month-over-month.

Overall consumer spending on game content (including full games, microtransactions, DLC, and subscriptions) was down 4% to $3.56 billion.

Console hardware sales took a particularly big hit for the month, down 23% year-over-year to $327 million, as all current-generation hardware saw double-digit declines in dollar sales year-over-year.

PS5 was the best-selling system whether looking at units or dollar amount, while Switch took second on units sold and Xbox Series X|S was the runner-up when looking at dollars spent.

As for accessories, spending was down 2% to $147 million with the “Midnight Black” PS5 Dual Sense controller drawing the most money from consumers.

Here are the top 20 selling games from the period of October 1 to October 28, data courtesy of Circana:

*Digital sales not included

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox