Name of Obligation: Black Ops 6 is the most effective promoting sport of each December 2024 and the total 12 months 2024 within the U.S., returning to the No.1 spot after Hogwarts Legacy took the crown in 2023.
That is based on Circana knowledge and evaluation by Mat Piscatella shared with IGN. The annual Name of Obligation launch traditionally is sort of at all times the No.1. best-selling sport within the U.S. every year by greenback gross sales going again to 2008, with just a few exceptions. Each Grand Theft Auto V and Pink Useless Redemption II beat it out of their respective launch years, and in 2023, Hogwarts Legacy took the crown. Name of Obligation: Black Ops 6 was again on prime this 12 months, although it is attainable that victory is short-lived given Grand Theft Auto VI’s anticipated launch late this 12 months.
This 12 months, Name of Obligation was additionally as soon as once more the best-selling franchise within the U.S. for a report sixteenth 12 months in a row.
EA Sports activities School Soccer 25, the No.2 best-selling sport of 2024 and the No.3 best-selling sport of December, was additionally the best-selling sports activities sport in U.S. historical past.
Not a single Nintendo sport cracked the highest 20 for 2024, although that is presumably as a result of Nintendo doesn’t share digital gross sales knowledge with Circana, that means all Nintendo first-party video games on this listing are solely together with bodily gross sales of their rankings. That mentioned, on the Nintendo Change console, Tremendous Mario Get together Jamboree was the best-selling sport of the 12 months, adopted by Mario Kart 8 at No. 2 and Mario & Luigi: Brothership at No.3.
Many of the rankings for the month of December had been releases from earlier within the 12 months and even prior years, given a low variety of new releases. Indiana Jones and the Nice Circle was the one new launch rating in December, at No.14. As a result of Circana tracks in greenback gross sales, we do not see new releases Marvel Rivals (free-to-play) or Path of Exile 2 ($30, versus $60) on the top-selling video games listing. Nevertheless, each ranked on Circana’s monitoring of the highest video games within the U.S. by Steam MAUs (No.1 and No.3 for December, respectively) and Marvel Rivals was additionally No.3 on PS5 and Xbox Sequence by MAUs.
For the total 12 months, content material spending within the U.S. elevated by 2% to $50.6 billion, the second highest complete for content material spending in U.S. historical past, behind 2021’s $52 billion. There was an 11% drop in console content material spending, nevertheless it was balanced out by development in all different content material areas. For December by itself, online game content material spending was down 5% 12 months over 12 months to $5.8 billion. There was a 21% drop in console content material spending in December, however PC content material spending grew 13%.
{Hardware} spending for 2024 dropped 25% from 2023 to $4.9 billion, with PS5 because the best-selling console of each the month and the 12 months. Change was second place for the 12 months in unit gross sales, whereas Xbox Sequence completed second in greenback gross sales. Digital editions made up 45% of PS5s offered within the U.S. throughout 2024, and 44% of Xbox Sequence.
For the month of December alone, {hardware} spending was down 29% from 2023 to $1.1 billion in December. All three console makers noticed the drop: PS5 {hardware} spending dropped 18%, and Xbox Sequence and Change each dropped by 38%.
For the total 12 months, general spending on video games was down 1.1% to $58.7 billion. For December, complete spending dropped 8.9% 12 months over 12 months to $7.5 billion.
The highest 20 best-selling video games within the U.S. for the month of December, based mostly on greenback gross sales:
Name of Obligation: Black Ops 6Madden NFL 25EA Sports activities School Soccer 25EA Sports activities FC 25Super Mario Get together Jamboree*Sonic X Shadow GenerationsHogwarts LegacyAstro BotMinecraft*NBA 2K25*Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZeroElden RingMarvel’s Spider-Man 2Indiana Jones and the Nice CircleHelldivers IIMario Kart 8Mario & Luigi: Brothership*God of Battle: RagnarokThe Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Knowledge*Simply Dance 2025 Version
The highest 20 best-selling video games within the U.S. for the total 12 months 2024, based mostly on greenback gross sales:
Name of Obligation: Black Ops 6EA Sports activities School Soccer 25Helldivers IIDragon Ball: Sparking! ZeroNBA 2K25*Madden NFL 25Call of Obligation: Trendy Warfare III (2023)EA Sports activities FC 25Elden RingEA Sports activities MVP BundleHogwarts LegacyDragon’s Dogma IIWWE 2K24*MLB: The Present 24*Grand Theft Auto V*Minecraft*Ultimate Fantasy VII: RebirthTekken 8Marvel’s Spider-Man 2NBA 2K24*
* Signifies that some or all digital gross sales aren’t included in Circana’s knowledge. Some publishers, together with Nintendo and Take-Two, don’t share sure digital knowledge for this report.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Yow will discover her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Acquired a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.
