Circana: US game spending hit $5.9B in December 2025 as subscriptions jumped 24%
US players spent $5.9 billion on video games in December 2025, up 3% year-over-year, according to new data from Circana. The biggest mover was subscriptions: spending there climbed 24% compared to December 2024.
Content spending was a mixed bag. Circana says PC, cloud, and non-console VR content rose 6% year-over-year, while console and mobile content spending was flat. Across the full US game market, Circana reported a 1.4% uptick for the period.
On the hardware side, Nintendo Switch 2 finished 2025 as the best-selling system by both units and dollars, and Circana calls it the fastest-selling console “in tracked history.” Accessories went the other direction in December, down 7% to $625 million. Nintendo’s Pro Controller was still the top accessory for the year overall, but in December it trailed the PlayStation Portal Midnight Black and the standard PlayStation Portal in accessory dollar sales.
For games, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 led December sales across physical and digital. Circana notes it’s the seventh straight year a Call of Duty release has been December’s best-seller. Metroid Prime 4: Beyond was the only new game to break into December’s Top 20, debuting at #7.
Looking at the full year, Battlefield 6 ended 2025 as the best-selling game by dollar sales, topping Xbox and the combined PC storefront view. On PS5, it landed at #2 behind NBA 2K26.
Engagement-wise, Fortnite was once again the most-played game by total active users across PlayStation and Xbox in 2025, with Circana saying more than half of active users on those platforms played it at least once. Roblox also had a strong year on the money side, finishing as December’s leading publisher for digital retail spending and the top publisher for 2025 overall, with spending up 16% year-over-year.
| Rank | Last month rank | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 |
| 2 | 3 | NBA 2K26 |
| 3 | 2 | Battlefield 6 |
| 4 | 4 | Madden NFL 26 |
| 5 | 5 | EA Sports FC 26 |
| 6 | 6 | Pokémon Legends: Z-A* |
| 7 | NEW | Metroid Prime 4: Beyond* |
| 8 | 9 | Minecraft^ |
| 9 | 14 | Donkey Kong Bananza* |
| 10 | 7 | Ghost of Yotei |
| 11 | 8 | EA Sports College Football 26 |
| 12 | 17 | Grand Theft Auto 5 |
| 13 | 13 | Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds |
| 14 | 19 | Forza Horizon 5 |
| 15 | 16 | Red Dead Redemption 2 |
| 16 | 114 | Flight Simulator 2024 |
| 17 | 23 | Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 |
| 18 | 10 | Kirby Air Raiders* |
| 19 | 26 | Super Mario Galaxy + Super Mario Galaxy 2* |
| 20 | 15 | Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 |