- Hardware and physical software unit sales in November 2025 were the worst they’ve been in the US since 1995
- Circana reports that 1.6 million units of video game hardware were sold in the US last month, which was the lowest since the 1.4 million units that were sold in the US in 1995
- The PS5 was November’s best-selling console in both units and dollars and Black Ops 7 was the best-selling game of the month
Video game hardware and physical software sales just had their worst November in the United States since 1995, despite the holiday season.
According to the data from Circana’s latest report from executive director, Mat Piscatella, who writes on BlueSky that there was a decline across hardware, console spending, and accessories in November 2025, making it the worst November for games in terms of hardware units and physical software sales in the US in 30 years.
Piscatella reports that 1.6 million units of video game hardware were sold in the US last month, compared to 3.9 million units in November 2019, and that last month’s results were at their lowest ever since the 1.4 million units that were sold in the US in 1995.
Monthly spending for hardware last month was $695 million, a 27% drop compared to November 2024, and also the lowest hardware spend in the same month in the US since 2005.
The average price paid for a new unit of hardware last month was also $439, compared to $235 in 2019, and also 11% higher than last year, but physical software spending fell 14% when compared to a year ago, which Piscatella said is an all-time low for a November month since 1995.
Content – Sensor Tower reports the top 10 mobile games by U.S. consumer spend in Nov and rank chg from Oct as: MONOPOLY GO!, Royal Match, Last War: Survival, Candy Crush Saga, Clash Royale, Kingshot, Gossip Harbor, Whiteout Survival (+1), Pokémon Go (+5) and Township.
— @matpiscatella.bsky.social (@matpiscatella.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2025-12-18T14:15:53.483Z
It’s also said that total projected spending across video game hardware, content, and accessories fell 4% when compared to a year ago, to $5.9 billion, and that monthly hardware spending dropped by 27% when compared to a year ago, to $695M.
“This is the lowest video game hardware spending total for a November month since the $455M reached during the November 2005 tracking period,” Piscatella said.
Still, the PS5 was November’s best-selling hardware in both units and dollars, which is “the first time this has occurred since the launch of the Nintendo Switch 2“, while the Switch 2 ranked 2nd place.
Interestingly, the NEX Playground ranked 3rd in hardware units sold during November, with the Xbox Series placing 3rd in dollars.
In terms of software and despite the bad month overall, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was the best-selling game of November, making it the 7th best-selling game of 2025 so far. However, Piscatella said the Call of Duty franchise “experienced a double-digit percentage full game dollar sales decline when compared to November 2024.”
The game was followed by Battlefield 6, which has been doing exceedingly well in the first-person shooter (FPS) genre this year, beating out Black Ops 7 in terms of concurrent players on Steam.
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