Market analysis firm Circana has published the latest edition of its monthly report, which tracks spending across game hardware and software in the US. June’s edition is another bleak one, with a near-universal decline.
Video game industry spending across hardware, software, accessories and add-ons dropped by 21 percent in June, compared to the same period last year. The industry collectively brought in $4.5bn during the month, down from $5.7bn.
The six-month pace is only one percent behind the same period last year, however. Seeing as we’re only through the first half of the year, there is reason for optimism. With Grand Theft Auto 6 releasing in the second half, not to mention all the other anticipated titles from the rest of the industry, the July-December period could very well more than make up for that slump.
Unfortunately, hardware is where things really declined. According to Circana, hardware spending dropped by a whopping 62 percent compared to June last year. June 2026 was always going to have lower spending, however, as it’s being compared to June 2025, the launch month of the Nintendo Switch 2. Spending in June 2025 was so high, in fact, it currently holds the record for the highest hardware and accessory spending ever in US history.
Naturally, Nintendo Switch 2 saw a decline from that, a significant 79 percent drop below June 2025’s record, to be exact. PlayStation 5, on the other hand, fared better than May, when it registered a decline of 58 percent year-on-year, and its worst since May 2000. According to Circana, PS5 hardware spending only dropped by 19 percent year-on-year.
The only platform to see growth in hardware spending has been Xbox, with the Series X/S consoles responsible for “more than double” spending compared to the same period last year. Although that may sound grand, it’s not hard to improve on Xbox’s performance, especially coming off a May where sales were “the lowest ever recorded for a May month” for the platform.
The Switch 2 was the best-selling platform in both unit and dollar sales in June, and remains the leader year-to-date. PS5 places second across both metrics.
As for games, UFC 6 was the best-selling new release in June across all platforms, followed by the viral Steam hit Meccha Chameleon, which is estimated to have sold over 4m copies. The only other new release in the top ten is Star Fox, which debuted at number four.
Game content spending fell by 12 percent overall. Subscriptions, however, grew in June by 7 percent, making it the only segment Circana tracks to see any growth.
July’s report should look a bit better than June’s, given it’ll include hits like Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, EA Sports College Football 27, Splatoon Raiders, Halo: Campaign Evolved and Palworld’s resurgence.
