EA Sports College Football 25 has overtaken Helldivers 2 as the best-selling game of 2024 in the US.
The game was a huge success, driving double-digit growth in U.S. video game spending in July, according to market research firm Circana, which released its monthly industry revenue report on Wednesday.
Mat Piscatella, executive director of video games at Circana, said the game “significantly exceeded” his expectations and “those were high.” He added that it boosted sales of hardware, software and accessories last month despite a significant drop in Nintendo Switch sales.
“EA Sports College Football 25's launch month sales more than tripled the total sales of the previous best-selling college football game, NCAA Football 07,” he said.
“The EA Sports MVP Bundle, which includes EA Sports College Football 25 Deluxe Edition and Madden NFL 25 Deluxe Edition, was the 2nd best-selling title in July and ranks 5th so far in 2024.”
The only other new release to make the top 20 in July was Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition. This feat was achieved solely based on physical sales, as Nintendo does not disclose data on digital sales.
Console spending increased 12% last month compared to July 2023, with PS5 up 25% and Xbox Series X/S up 48%, while Switch spending fell 44%.
The PS5 continued to lead the hardware market in both unit and dollar sales, while the Xbox Series X/S came in second in both measures.
“July 2024 will be the first month of year-over-year growth in video game hardware spending since the 2% increase in December 2023,” Piscatella said.
Total U.S. consumer spending on gaming hardware, content, and accessories rose 10% year-over-year to $4.8 billion in July. Year-to-date consumer spending is now 2% higher than last year at $32.1 billion.