- Sales of physical hardware and software units in November 2025 were the worst in the United States since 1995.
- Circana reports that 1.6 million units of video game hardware were sold in the United States last month, which is the lowest since the 1.4 million units sold in the United States in 1995.
- The PS5 was the best-selling console of the month of November, both in units and dollars, and Black Ops 7 was the best-selling game of the month.
Sales of physical video game hardware and software just had their worst November in the United States since 1995, despite the holiday season.
According to data from Circana’s latest report from executive director Mat Piscatella, who writes on BlueSky, there was a decline in spending on hardware, consoles and accessories in November 2025, making it the worst November for gaming in terms of hardware units and physical software sales in the United States in 30 years.
Piscatella reports that 1.6 million units of video game hardware were sold in the United States last month, compared to 3.9 million units in November 2019, and that last month’s results were at their lowest level since 1.4 million units sold in the United States in 1995.
Monthly hardware spending last month was $695 million, down 27% from November 2024, and also the lowest hardware spending for the same month in the United States since 2005.
The average price paid for a new unit of hardware last month was also $439, up from $235 in 2019, and also 11% higher than last year, but spending on physical software fell 14% from last year, which Piscatella said is an all-time low for a November since 1995.
Content – Sensor Tower presents the top 10 most spent mobile games by US consumers in November and rankings from October as follows: 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 says total projected spending on video game hardware, content and accessories fell 4% from a year ago, to $5.9 billion, and monthly hardware spending fell 27% from a year ago, to $695 million.
“This is the lowest video game hardware spending total for a November since the $455 million achieved during the November 2005 tracking period,” Piscatella said.
Still, the PS5 was the best-selling hardware in November, both in 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 2nd place.
Interestingly, the NEX Playground ranked 3rd in terms of hardware units sold in November, while the Xbox Series ranked 3rd in terms of dollars.
At the software level and despite a generally bad month, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was the best-selling game of November, making it the 7th best-selling game of 2025 so far. However, Piscatella stated that Call of Duty The franchise “saw a double-digit decline in full-game dollar sales compared to November 2024.”
The match was followed by Battlefield 6which has performed extremely well in the first-person shooter (FPS) genre this year, edging out Black Ops 7 in terms of concurrent players on Steam.
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