- Sales of hardware and physical software units in November 2025 were the worst since 1995 in the US
- Circana reports that 1.6 million units of video game hardware were sold in the US last month, the lowest since the 1.4 million units sold in the US in 1995.
- The PS5 was November’s best-selling console in both units and dollars, and Black Ops 7 was the best-selling game of the month
Sales of video game hardware and physical software in the United States just had their worst November since 1995, despite the holidays.
According to data from Circana’s latest report from executive director Mat Piscatella, writing on BlueSky, November 2025 saw a decline in hardware, console releases and accessories, making it the worst November for games in terms of hardware units and physical software sales in the US in 30 years.
Piscatella reports that 1.6 million units of video game hardware were sold in the US last month, compared to 3.9 million units in November 2019, and that last month’s results were at the lowest level since the 1.4 million units sold in the US in 1995.
Monthly hardware spending last month was $695 million, down 27% from November 2024, and also the lowest same-month hardware spending in the US since 2005.
The average price paid for a new hardware unit last month was also $439, up from $235 in 2019, and also up 11% from last year, but spending on physical software was down 14% compared to a year ago, which Piscatella said is a low for a November since 1995.
Contents – Sensor Tower reports the top 10 mobile games by US consumer spending in November and as of October ranks as: MONOPOLY GO!, Royal Match, Last War: Survival, Candy Crush Saga, Clash Royale, Kingshot, Gossip Harbor, Whiteout Survival (+1), Pokémon Go (+5) and Township.
— @matpiscatella.bsky.social (@matpiscatella.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-12-18T14:15:53.483Z
It also said that total expected spending on video game hardware, content and accessories fell 4% compared to a year ago, to $5.9 billion, and monthly hardware spending fell 27% compared to a year ago, to $695 million.
“This is the lowest total of video game hardware spending in a month of November since the $455 million reached during the November 2005 tracking period,” Piscatella said.
Still, the PS5 was November’s best-selling hardware in both units and dollars, which is “the first time this has happened since the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2,” while the Switch 2 came in second.
Interestingly enough, the NEX Playground ranked third in terms of hardware units sold in November, while the Xbox Series ranked third in dollars.
On the software front and despite the bad month in general, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was the best-selling game of November, making it the seventh best-selling game of 2025 so far. However, Piscatella said the Call of duty franchise “experienced a double-digit decline in dollar sales of full-length games compared to November 2024.”
The game was followed by Battlefield 6which is doing extremely well in the first-person shooter (FPS) genre this year, beating out BlackOps7 in terms of concurrent players on Steam.
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