PS5 drives hardware sales in the USA in January, a market that grew by 15% on an annual basis

The analysis company Circana has published data relating to the video game market in USA to January 2024. It was a generally positive month, with PS5 which drove hardware sales. Overall spending on video games grew by 15% year-on-year, reaching $5.1 billion.

At the software level, there has been a general growth in spending on digital goodswith that of the mobile sector being 5% (source Sensor Tower).

As mentioned, the hardware sales were driven by PS5, although overall they fell by 4%, reaching $378 million. Unfortunately, not even the growth in revenues of the Xbox Series has been able to do anything against the general decline, in particular of the Nintendo Switch, which is still in second position in terms of units sold.

So the ranking sees PS5 first for units and revenues, Nintendo Switch second for units and third for revenues and Xbox Series second for revenues and third for units.

Interestingly, the PS5 is selling at a 7% higher rate than PS4 and 68% compared to PS3, at least in the USA.

Software

Speaking of software, the best-selling game of the month was obviously Palworld, which also placed first for active users, according to Circana's Player Engagement Tracker. It should be noted that on Xbox it came third, behind Fortnite and Call of Duty HQ.

Fortnite was first on consoles (both PS5 and Xbox Series), but the most interesting data is that of Evil West which jumped to seventh position (previously it was 378th) thanks to the addition of PlayStation Plus to the catalog of free games. Something similar happened to Hell Let Loose on Xbox, which went from 168th to eighth position after inclusion in the Game Pass.

The ranking of best-selling games of the month sees six new releases, the best-selling of which was Tekken 8. Palworld is in early access, so it wasn't tracked.

Let's see the top ten positions:

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III
2. Tekken 8
3. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
4. P3: Persona 3: Reload
5. Madden NFL 24
6. Hogwarts Legacy
7. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
8. EA Sports FC 24
9. The Last of Us: Part II
10. Marvel's Spider-Man 2

The expense in accessories it grew 45% compared to the previous year, reaching $246 million. Spending on controllers grew 50% year over year. In particular, the Dual Sense Edge of PS5 proved to be the best seller of the month in terms of revenues, while PlayStation Portal stopped in fifth position.