For the third month in a row, a football game has taken the top slot in the U.S. sales charts, according to industry-tracking firm Circana. Granted, the three games represent two different kinds of football — while Madden NFL 25 and EA Sports College Football 25 dominated August and July, respectively, September’s big seller was EA Sports FC 25. Circana reports that the latter also broke a record, having the highest launch month sales of any soccer game released in the U.S.
However, the picture was not so rosy elsewhere on Circana’s report. Video game hardware sales are still in freefall, while overall sales numbers for the industry are down year-over-year. Mat Piscatella, Circana’s executive producer for games reports, said in a statement, “September video game hardware spending fell 44% when compared to a year ago, to $251 million. This is the lowest monthly hardware spend total for a September month since 2019 ($242 million).”
The sales charts for the year-to-date are not much better, showing that total sales almost flat from September 2023’s chart. While video game content specifically is up 6% YoY, that number is dragged down by the almost 30% decrease from YTD 2023 to YTD 2024. Mobile content spending is up, according to Sensor Tower’s data, but most other stats are down.
There are a few things worth noting from the specific sales results: Circana’s sales show that the Xbox Series X is slightly edging out the Series S in sales, making up 51% of Xbox Series units sold life-to-date. Accessory sales are still holding on, with the PlayStation Portal being the best-selling accessory for the year-to-date — 3% of all PlayStation 5 owners also own a Portal.
Circana September 2024: Top 20 best-selling games in the U.S.
October’s sales charts contains a high saturation of new games, with seven new games making it into the top 20 slots — five of them in the top 10. The top game is the aforementioned EA Sports FC 25, which beat last year’s EA Sports FC 24 in sales and broke the record for launch month sales for a soccer title. The fact that EA’s soccer title continues to chart well despite the company’s break from the FIFA branding. The game was also the best-selling title on PlayStation and Xbox platforms, and the fifth best-selling title on Nintendo Switch. NBA 2K25 and NHL 25 also bring sports game success, debuting at 7th and 9th place on the charts, respectively.
Sony’s Astro Bot follows FC 24 at second place, and is also the second best-selling game on PlayStation platforms. Nintendo’s new Zelda title, Echoes of Wisdom is the fourth best-selling title and could have been higher, but Circana only has physical sales data for Nintendo products. Space Marine 2 is not only the 18th best-selling title, it was also the third most-played game on Steam during September. The Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is the final new game that made the charts with its brand recognition and familiar characters.
Circana’s September 2024 chart might be the most chaotic yet
September’s sales charts contains not only a number of new games, but also a high number of games that have jumped up the charts from a relatively low position. The biggest example of this is Dead Rising, which went from 502nd place to 11th thanks to the Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster. Piscatella clarified on Bluesky that games are tracked by stock-keeping units (SKUs), which means that sales of the remaster count towards the number of the original as well. Age of Mythology appears to have received a similar boost thanks to the launch of its Retold remaster.
Other games that jumped up several places are Final Fantasy XVI and God of War Ragnarok, which launched on PC on September 17 and 19, respectively. The PC launches have boosted the profile of both games, though God of War Ragnarok has weathered some discontent from players for requiring a PSN account in order to run the game.
Circana September 2024: 20 best-selling games of 2024 so far
Unlike the September sales charts, the year-to-date charts remain relatively unchanged, albeit slightly remixed. The only September game that made it to this chart was EA Sports FC 25, which also pushed its predecessor EA Sports FC 24 one place down the list. Madden NFL 25 has also gotten a boost up the list with its continued high sales.
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