Circana (formerly known as the NPD Group) has released software and hardware sales data for the US for the month of December (via analyst Mat Piscatella on Twitter), with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 taking the top spot in the charts for the best-selling games of the month (though it was beaten by Hogwarts Legacy in the annual charts).
It was followed in second place by Super Mario Bros. Wonder (for which digital sales weren’t counted), with Madden NFL 24 coming in at third place, Hogwarts Legacy following in fourth place, and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 coming in at No. 5. The only new release to figure in the top 20 for the month was Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which came in at No. 6.
Meanwhile, on the hardware front, the PS5 was the best-selling console of the month in terms of both dollar and unit sales, and was followed in second place by the Nintendo Switch for both metrics, with Xbox Series X/S following in third place.
Xbox and PS5 both saw increased sales compared to December 2022 (unlike the Switch), while total hardware spending for the month was up by 4% at $1.6 billion. Interestingly, dollar sales for Sony hardware also set a new single month record, with the previous high being set a year prior in December 2022.
December 2023 Top 20 Best-Selling Premium Games – U.S. (Dollar Sales, Physical and Digital from DLP members, Excludes add-on content) pic.twitter.com/1jxBjMs5LL
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) January 18, 2024
December hardware spending reached $1.6 billion, an increase of 4% when compared to December 2022. Growth in Xbox Series and PlayStation 5 hardware dollar sales offset a double-digit percentage decline for Nintendo Switch.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) January 18, 2024
Dollar sales of Sony video game hardware set a new 1-month record for the manufacturer, beating the previous Sony high set in December 2022.
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) January 18, 2024
