Game On: U.S video game spending falls 8.9% in December, says Circana

“Game On” is The Fly’s weekly recap of the stories powering up or beating down video game stocks.

NEW RELEASES: This week’s most notable release is the PC port of Sony‘s (SONY) “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2,” which first released exclusively for PlayStation 5 in 2023. The PC version will be available on January 30.

CIRCANA: Circana analyst Mat Piscatella (MSFT) and Switch (NTDOY) each declining by 38%, Piscatella noted. Annual spending on video game hardware finished 25% lower than 2023, at $4.9B. PlayStation 5 finished as December’s best-selling hardware platform in both units and dollars, with Switch ranking 2nd across both measures. For the 2024 year, Xbox Series ranked #2 in hardware spending, while Switch placed 2nd in unit sales. PlayStation 5 led 2024 in both. 49% of PlayStation 5 and 43% of Xbox Series hardware units sold in December did not include a physical disc drive. For the 2024 year, all-digital editions comprised 45% of all PlayStation 5 units sold during the year, and 44% of Xbox Series. PlayStation 5 now ranks 3rd in lifetime hardware dollar sales in U.S. history, trailing only Switch and Xbox 360. The platform currently ranks 11th in lifetime unit sales.

On the software side, Piscatella said Activision’s “Call of Duty: Black Ops 6” finished as both the best-selling premium video game of December and the 2024 year in the U.S. “Call of Duty” was the best-selling video game franchise in U.S. full game dollar sales (excluding add-on content) for a record 16th consecutive year. Electronic Arts’ (EA) “EA Sports College Football 25” finished as the #2 best-selling game of 2024, while ranking 1st on Xbox platforms. “EA Sports College Football 25” is the best-selling sports video game in U.S. history in terms of full game dollar sales, excluding add-on content. Microsoft’s “Indiana Jones and the Great Circle” was December’s only new release to rank among the top 20 best-sellers of the month. It was 14th overall on the December sales chart, while placing 4th on Xbox platforms. NetEase’s (NTES) “Marvel Rivals” debuted as the #1 title in U.S. monthly active users on Steam while ranking 3rd across both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series in that measure. Other top-selling premium games for the month of December in the U.S. include EA’s “Madden NFL 25” and “EA Sports FC 25,” Nintendo’s “Super Mario Party Jamboree,” Sega’s (SGAMY) “Sonic X Shadow Generations,” Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) “Hogwarts Legacy,” Sony’s “Astro Bot,” Microsoft’s “Minecraft,” Take-Two’s (TTWO) “NBA 2K25,” and Bandai Namco’s “Dragon Ball Sparking! Zero” and “Elden Ring.”

EA PRE-ANNOUNCEMENT: Last week, Electronic Arts announced preliminary results for Q3 and FY25, with Q3 preliminary GAAP eanrings per share and net bookings expected to fall below consensus expectations and with the company lowering itst net bookings view for FY25. The company said its initial FY25 guidance anticipated mid-single-digit growth in live services net bookings, though the company now projects a mid-single-digit decline, with Global Football accounting for the majority of the change. Global Football had experienced two consecutive fiscal years of double-digit net bookings growth. However, the franchise experienced a slowdown as early momentum in the fiscal third quarter did not sustain through to the end. As a result, EA revises its outlook for Global Football to end the fiscal year down mid-single-digit at the midpoint of the new outlook. Separately, “Dragon Age: The Veilguard” engaged approximately 1.5M players during the quarter, down nearly 50% from the company’s expectations.

“During Q3, we continued to deliver high-quality games and experiences across our portfolio; however, Dragon Age and EA SPORTS FC 25 underperformed our net bookings expectations,” said Andrew Wilson, CEO of EA. “This month, our teams delivered a comprehensive gameplay refresh in addition to our annual Team of the Year update in FC 25; positive player feedback and early results are encouraging. We remain confident in our long-term strategy and expect a return to growth in FY26, as we execute against our pipeline.”

“We continue to balance investment for future growth with operational discipline, and remain committed to EA’s long-term financial framework,” said Stuart Canfield, CFO of EA. “As we look to FY26, we expect to grow as we launch more of our iconic franchises.”

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UBISOFT LAYOFFS: Ubisoft (UBSFY) confirmed to VideoGamesChronicle that it intends to lay off 185 staff in Europe as part of wider restructuring efforts, including the shuttering of Ubisoft Leamington and cuts at Ubisoft Dusseldorf, Ubisoft Stockholm and Ubisoft Reflections. “As part of our ongoing efforts to prioritize projects and reduce costs that ensure long-term stability at Ubisoft, we have announced targeted restructurings at Ubisoft Dusseldorf, Ubisoft Stockholm and Ubisoft Reflections and the permanent closure of Ubisoft Leamington site,” Ubisoft said. “Unfortunately, this should impact 185 employees overall. We are deeply grateful for their contributions and are committed to supporting them through this transition.”

The news comes after French newspaper Les Echoes said that CEO Yves Guillemot had secured funding from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund last month, though the company told Eurogamer that it would not comment on the deal but did not offer a denial of the reporting. “We’ll decline to comment,” a Ubisoft spokesperson said. “We are focused on finishing Assassin’s Creed Shadows and excited for players to get to play it on 20th March.”

XBOX DIRECT: During a Developer_Direct presentation last week, Microsoft opened the showcase with the announcement that it was publishing hack-and-slash action game “Ninja Gaiden 4,” which will be developed by Koei Tecmo’s (TKHCF) Team Ninja in tandem with “Nier: Automata” studio Platinum Games. The game will release for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5 in Fall 2025 and be available on Xbox Game Pass on day one. In addition, Koei Tecmo announced during the event that “Ninja Gaiden 2 Black,” a remaster of 2008 game “Ninja Gaiden 2,” would be available that same day for console, PC, and Game Pass.

Following the “Ninja Gaiden” announcements, the Xbox maker also announced that upcoming game “Doom: The Dark Ages” will release May 15, 2025 for Xbox Series X/S, PC, and PlayStation 5, while adventure game “South of Midnight” will launch April 8, 2025 exclusively for Xbox Series X/S and PC. In addition, Kepler Interactive’s role-playing game “Clair Obscur: Expedition 33” will launch April 24, 2025 for Xbox Series X/S and PC. All three games will launch day and date on Game Pass, the company noted.

MORE VIDEO GAME NEWS:

• Xbox boss Phil Spencer confirmed that the company plans to release certain Xbox games on Nintendo’s upcoming Switch 2 console, VGC reports
• Ubisoft Japan said that “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” will have some graphic content removed in Japan, VGC says
• Netflix (NFLX) said on its quarterly earnings call that Take-Two’s “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas” on the platform drove “tens of millions” of downloads
• Epic Games has added third party games to its new mobile app, announced his retirement after three decades in the video game sector