US Gaming Market Sees 3% Decline in April Spending

In April, Stellar Blade secured the number one position in Circana's US rankings, becoming the 16th best-selling title of 2024 so far. As the only new release of the month, it outperformed Helldivers 2, which dropped to second place with sales plummeting over 70% from March. The launch of Sea of Thieves on PlayStation propelled it from 55th to 4th place, while Fallout 4 jumped to fifth after the success of Amazon's Fallout series. The Fallout franchise continued to thrive, with Fallout 4, 76, and New Vegas being among the most-played games in the US. On the mobile side, Monopoly Go, Royal Match, Candy Crush Saga, Roblox, and Last War Survival dominated the charts, with Last War Survival moving up two spots. According to Sensor Tower's Samuel Aune, "Last War: Survival has continued its ascent, now ranking as a Top 5 game by US consumer spend. It was among the only three games in the top 10 to experience revenue growth month-over-month, alongside Candy Crush Saga and Evony." US consumer spending decreased by 3% year-over-year to $4.1 billion, although spending on content increased by 2% to $3.7 billion. Hardware sales plummeted 43% year-over-year to $208 million, while accessories dropped 4% to $152 million. All console hardware platforms saw a minimum decline of 26% year-over-year. Despite the overall decline, PlayStation 5 remained the best-selling hardware platform in April, followed by Nintendo Switch and Xbox.