Circana Analyst: January Video Game Spending Up 3% YoY to $4.7B

Circana analyst Mat Piscatella said that total January projected spending across video game hardware, content and accessories grew 3% when compared to a year ago, to $4.7B. A 23% increase in subscription spending and 16% growth in hardware fueled the gain. Hardware spending increased 16% when compared to a year ago, reaching $248M. Nintendo Switch 2 (NTDOY) spending was able to offset year-on-year declines seen across PlayStation 5 (SONY) with a 17% decline, Xbox Series (MSFT) with a 27% decline, and Switch with a 79% decline. Despite sales falling compared to a year ago, PlayStation 5 led the hardware market in both unit and dollar sales during January 2026. Nintendo Switch 2 ranked 2nd across both measures. January video game content spending grew 3% when compared to a year ago, to $4.3B. A 23% increase in subscription spending combined with slight gains across Console and PC content to offset a small drop in mobile. Activision's "Call of Duty: Black Ops 7" repeated as the best-selling game of the month. Bandai Namco's (NCBDY) "Code Vein II" was the only new release to appear on the January best-selling titles chart, ranking 11th overall. It placed first on the PC aggregated storefronts chart. Other top-selling games for the month were Take-Two's (TTWO) "NBA 2K26" and "Grand Theft Auto V," EA's (EA) "Madden NFL 26" and "Battlefield 6," and Microsoft's "Minecraft."