Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle is the one December launch to chart | Circana

Online game {hardware} gross sales have been down 25% year-over-year on the finish of 2024, based on industry-tracking agency Circana. Online game content material spending on the whole was up in contrast with the earlier yr, however {hardware} gross sales — together with nearly all different gross sales, save for equipment — have been down in December. Just one December sport charted on the best-selling video games record, that being MachineGames’ Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle

A lot of the losses, each for December and for the yr general seem like from declining console gross sales, which have been dwindling steadily all yr. Mat Piscatella, Circana’s Circana’s government producer for video games studies stated within the report, “Spending on PlayStation 5 {hardware} fell 18% when in comparison with December 2023, with Xbox Collection and Swap every declining by 38%. Annual spending on online game {hardware} completed 25% decrease than 2023, at $4.9 billion.”

That stated, spending on precise sport content material for 2024 was up 2% YoY, and was “the 2nd highest whole for online game content material spending in U.S. historical past, trailing solely 2021’s $52.0 billion,” says Piscatella. Spending on console content material dropped 11%, however the development in cell, PC, cloud, VR and subscription content material offset this. Piscatella additionally added in a submit on Bluesky, “However [the decline] was anticipated with Swap being in marketplace for so lengthy and each PS5/XBS previous their promoting peaks.”

Equipment spending equally noticed 6% development in 2024, regardless of the commonly lukewarm {hardware} market and gross sales being general flat in December itself. The PlayStation Portal was one of the best promoting accent of the yr, having launched within the U.S. in late 2023. Circana’s report additionally notes that the PS5’s DualSense controller in Midnight Black was the accent with probably the most items offered.

Circana December 2024: Prime 20 best-selling video games within the U.S.

As famous above, MachineGames’ Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle is the one December launch to make it onto Circana’s month-to-month best-seller charts. It’s additionally the fourth best-selling sport on Xbox platforms and the third most-played video games on those self same platforms, based on Circana’s gross sales and engagement trackers. Different December launches which have missed the Circana studies embody Marvel Rivals, Path of Exile 2 and Infinity Nikki, although the previous two seem within the studies for many every day energetic customers on Steam and consoles.

The remainder of the best-seller record for December options a number of video games that have been initially in decrease rankings leaping into the highest 20 — presumably because of vacation gross sales. God of Battle Ragnarok, for instance, was supplied as a part of a vacation sale just a few quick months after its launch on PC. Different titles similar to Elden Ring and Helldivers 2 might need acquired a lift from The Sport Awards and a brand new content material launch, respectively.

Circana December 2024: 20 best-selling video games of 2024

A Name of Responsibility sport has taken the highest spot within the charts, which doesn’t come as an enormous shock. If something, it’s a return to kind, as final yr’s Hogwarts Legacy was the primary sport to dethrone a Name of Responsibility title from the highest spot on a Circana bestsellers chart since 2008. CoD additionally stays the best-selling franchise within the U.S. for the sixteenth consecutive yr. The remainder of the record includes a slight remix from November’s positions, with a lot of the similar video games having remained.

Along with the year-end record, Circana additionally launched particular person charts for gross sales for every console (although Nintendo’s entries by itself chart are ranked principally by bodily gross sales knowledge, as the corporate doesn’t present digital gross sales knowledge to Circana). Crimson Lifeless Redemption is on Xbox’s chart, however not PlayStation’s, whereas the latter counts a number of of its unique titles by itself record, with Helldivers II rating third. Nintendo’s record comprises numerous new releases alongside mainstays similar to Mario Kart 8 and Tremendous Smash Bros Final.