EA Sports activities FC 25 tops September gross sales, continues soccer win streak | Circana

For the third month in a row, a soccer recreation has taken the highest slot within the U.S. gross sales charts, in response to industry-tracking agency Circana. Granted, the three video games symbolize two completely different sorts of soccer — whereas Madden NFL 25 and EA Sports activities Faculty Soccer 25 dominated August and July, respectively, September’s huge vendor was EA Sports activities FC 25. Circana stories that the latter additionally broke a report, having the very best launch month gross sales of any soccer recreation launched within the U.S.

Nevertheless, the image was not so rosy elsewhere on Circana’s report. Online game {hardware} gross sales are nonetheless in freefall, whereas general gross sales numbers for the {industry} are down year-over-year. Mat Piscatella, Circana’s govt producer for video games stories, mentioned in an announcement, “September online game {hardware} spending fell 44% when in comparison with a 12 months in the past, to $251 million. That is the bottom month-to-month {hardware} spend whole for a September month since 2019 ($242 million).”

The gross sales charts for the year-to-date should not significantly better, exhibiting that whole gross sales nearly flat from September 2023’s chart. Whereas online game content material particularly is up 6% YoY, that quantity is dragged down by the virtually 30% lower from YTD 2023 to YTD 2024. Cell content material spending is up, in response to Sensor Tower’s information, however most different stats are down.

There are some things price noting from the particular gross sales outcomes: Circana’s gross sales present that the Xbox Collection X is barely edging out the Collection S in gross sales, making up 51% of Xbox Collection items bought life-to-date. Accent gross sales are nonetheless holding on, with the PlayStation Portal being the best-selling accent for the year-to-date — 3% of all PlayStation 5 homeowners additionally personal a Portal.

Circana September 2024: High 20 best-selling video games within the U.S.

October’s gross sales charts comprises a excessive saturation of latest video games, with seven new video games making it into the highest 20 slots — 5 of them within the high 10. The highest recreation is the aforementioned EA Sports activities FC 25, which beat final 12 months’s EA Sports activities FC 24 in gross sales and broke the report for launch month gross sales for a soccer title. The truth that EA’s soccer title continues to chart properly regardless of the corporate’s break from the FIFA branding. The sport was additionally the best-selling title on PlayStation and Xbox platforms, and the fifth best-selling title on Nintendo Change. NBA 2K25 and NHL 25 additionally convey sports activities recreation success, debuting at seventh and ninth place on the charts, respectively.

Sony’s Astro Bot follows FC 24 at second place, and can be the second best-selling recreation on PlayStation platforms. Nintendo’s new Zelda title, Echoes of Knowledge is the fourth best-selling title and will have been increased, however Circana solely has bodily gross sales information for Nintendo merchandise. Area Marine 2 is just not solely the 18th best-selling title, it was additionally the third most-played recreation on Steam throughout September. The Marvel vs Capcom Preventing Assortment: Arcade Classics is the ultimate new recreation that made the charts with its model recognition and acquainted characters.

Circana’s September 2024 chart may be probably the most chaotic but

September’s gross sales charts comprises not solely quite a lot of new video games, but additionally a excessive variety of video games which have jumped up the charts from a comparatively low place. The most important instance of that is Lifeless Rising, which went from 502nd place to eleventh due to the Lifeless Rising Deluxe Remaster. Piscatella clarified on Bluesky that video games are tracked by stock-keeping items (SKUs), which signifies that gross sales of the remaster rely in direction of the variety of the unique as properly. Age of Mythology seems to have obtained an identical enhance due to the launch of its Retold remaster.

Different video games that jumped up a number of locations are Last Fantasy XVI and God of Battle Ragnarok, which launched on PC on September 17 and 19, respectively. The PC launches have boosted the profile of each video games, although God of Battle Ragnarok has weathered some discontent from gamers for requiring a PSN account with a view to run the sport.

Circana September 2024: 20 best-selling video games of 2024 to date

In contrast to the September gross sales charts, the year-to-date charts stay comparatively unchanged, albeit barely remixed. The one September recreation that made it to this chart was EA Sports activities FC 25, which additionally pushed its predecessor EA Sports activities FC 24 one place down the checklist. Madden NFL 25 has additionally gotten a lift up the checklist with its continued excessive gross sales.