U.S. video game spending fell 3% y/y in April, says Circana

Circana analyst Mat Piscatella said that projected total U.S. spending on video game hardware, content and accessories fell 3% in April 2024 vs YA, to $4.1B. A 2% increase in content spending could not offset a 43% drop in hardware and a 4% dip in accessories. The content spending growth was led by mobile, with gains from this segment offsetting a 24% year-on-year dip in content spending on Console platforms. April video game hardware spending fell 43% when compared to a year ago, to $208M. All current console hardware platforms fell a minimum of 26% year-on-year, with Switch (NTDOY) showing the strongest year-on-year decline at 69%. PlayStation 5 (SONY) again led the month’s hardware market in unit and dollar sales. Nintendo Switch once again finished 2nd in unit sales, while Xbox Series (MSFT) ranked 2nd in dollars. PS5 exclusive “Stellar Blade” debuted as the best-selling premium game of April, and the #16 best-selling game of 2024 year-to-date. “Stellar Blade” was the only new release in April to rank among the month’s top 20 best-selling premium video games. Sony’s “Helldivers II” remains the best-selling premium game of 2024 year-to-date after placing 2nd in April, repeating its March ranking. “Helldivers II” held to its #2 ranking despite April dollar sales falling by more than 70% when compared to March. Microsoft’s “Sea of Thieves,” which originally launched on Xbox and PC in 2018, was the 4th best-selling game of April following its launch on PlayStation platforms during the month. The title ranked 55th on the March best-selling titles chart. “Sea of Thieves” was the #3 best-selling game on PlayStation platforms in April. Other top-selling premium games in the U.Sgreater than for the month were Activision’s “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III,” Bethesda’s “Fallout 4,” Sony’s “MLB The Show 24,” Capcom’s (CCOEY) “Dragon’s Dogma II,” Warner Bros. Disccovery’s (WBD) “Hogwarts Legacy,” and Electronic Arts’ (EA) “EA Sports FC 24.”