March 2025 Circana (NPD) covers the five-week period from March 2 to April 5 and will be released on April 23.

Since Circana (NPD) leaks don't happen nearly as often as it used to and hardware revenue is something we do get, be sure to include revenue in your predictions.

Feel free to also predict what you think the top software games will be for the month.

Example prediction:

[Total Hardware Revenue]

1. [#1 selling console] XXX,000
2. [#2 selling console] XXX,000
3. [#3 selling console] XXX,000

VGChartz US estimates for March 2024:

1. PS5 - 510K
2. NS - 232K
3. XSX|S - 216K

Upcoming Circana (NPD) release dates (subject to change as Circana has delayed reports in the past):

• Mar (Mar 2 - Apr 5) - Apr 23
• Apr (Apr 6 - May 3) - May 21
• May (May 4 - May 30) - Jun 18

RESULTS

TLDR

• Units: PS5 > XS > NS
• Revenue: PS5 > XS > NS
• Hardware spending -25%
• PS5 dollar sales -26% YoY
• XS dollar sales -9% YoY
• NS dollar sales -37% YoY

Link to the full report here.

PS5 Best-Seller in the US in March, Assassin's Creed Shadows Debuts in 1st

The PlayStation 5 was once again the best-selling console in the US in March 2025 in terms of units sold and dollar sales, according to figures from Circana (formerly The NPD Group). Circana includes the dates for the five-week period of March 2 to April 5.

The Xbox Series X|S came in second place in terms of units sold and dollar sales. The Nintendo Switch came in third place in terms of units sold and dollar sales.

In terms of dollar sales, the PlayStation 5 is down 26 percent year-on-year, while the Xbox Series X|S is down nine percent, and the Nintendo Switch is down 37 percent.

Digital SKUs for March accounted for 70 percent of Xbox Series X|S sales and 50 percent of PlayStation 5 sales. Digital SKUs year-to-date have accounted for 75 percent of Xbox Series X|S sales and 50 percent of PlayStation 5 sales.

Overall spending on video games in March decreased six percent year-on-year from $4.99 billion to $4.69 billion. Spending on video game content decreased four percent from $4.34 billion to $4.16 billion, while video game hardware sales decreased 25 percent from $382 million to $286 million. Spending on accessories decreased 11 percent from $267 million to $238 million.

"March 2025 projected U.S. consumer spending on video game hardware, content and accessories declined 6% when compared to YA, to $4.7B," said Circana Executive Director and Video Game Industry Analyst Mat Piscatella. "Assassin's Creed: Shadows debuted as the best-selling game of March, ranking 2nd YTD."

He added, "March 2025 content spending fell 4% vs YA, to $4.2B. The only growth segments were non-mobile subscription (+11%) and console digital premium downloads (+12%). Mobile content finished 6% behind Mar 2024."

In terms of 2024 total sales, overall spending on video games is down nine percent year-on-year from $15.10 billion to $13.71 billion. Spending on video game content increased seven percent from $13.24 billion to $12.31 billion, while video game hardware sales dropped 32 percent from $1.09 billion to $0.75 billion. Spending on accessories decreased 16 percent from $0.77 billion to $0.65 billion.

The PlayStation 5 Dual Sense Wireless Controller Midnight Black was the best-selling accessory in terms of dollar sales for March. The PlayStation 5 Dual Sense Edge Wireless Controller Midnight Black came in third and the PlayStation 5 Portal Midnight came in fourth.

Assassin's Creed Shadows was the best-selling game in March and instantly became the second best-selling game of 2025. It was the best-selling game on Xbox, while it came in second on PlayStation and Steam.

Assassin's Creed Shadows had the third biggest launch in franchise history in the US in terms of dollar sales. Only Assassin's Creed III and Assassin's Creed Valhalla had a bigger launch.

There were six other new releases in the top 20, while four of the top five games were new releases.

MLB The Show 25 debuted in second place and instantly became the fourth best-selling game of 2025. It was the best-selling game on PlayStation. Launch month dollar sales are 23 percent higher than last year's MLB The Show 24.

WWE 2K25 debuted in fourth place, Split Fiction debuted in fifth place, Bleach: Rebirth of Souls debuted in ninth place, Xenoblade Chronicles X debuted in 17th place, and Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars debuted in 18th place.

Here are the top 20 best-selling games in terms of dollars for March 2025:

Here are the top 20 best-selling games in 2025 year-to-date:

Here are the top 10 games played on the PlayStation 5 ranked by monthly active users:

Here are the top 10 games played on the Xbox Series X|S ranked by monthly active users:

Here are the top 10 games played on Steam ranked by monthly active users:

Here are the top 10 best-selling premium games on PlayStation platforms in March 2025:

Here are the top 10 best-selling premium games on Xbox platforms in March 2025:

Here are the top 10 best-selling premium games on Nintendo platforms in March 2025:

I actually think that the Xbox beat Switch last month

PS5: 375k
Xbox: 210k
SW: 150k

I assume March 2025 was quite a good month for PS5.

• PS5: 505K
• X|S: 180K
• Switch: 170K

@trunkswd
Since the NPD's are at the end of the month and we don't get Europe sales data anymore,
Why don't you put out Europe estimates earlier in the month.

I agree, and not only this month but every month, since they are up at the same time or even later with the US ones. Why the wait ?

There's no European data being reported anymore? I didn't catch that.

What's the background of this?

I have absolutely no clue about how all of this is working anyhow.

All I always read is so many institutions track data for the European markets, but somehow only this & that, and only here and there ... I always find the European data to be super confusing.

Why can't there be one institution like Circana does for America, tracking all European countries, hardware and software?

The big UK and Europe monthly reports from GamesIndustry that provided the most data for Europe are no longer happening. That was our main source for our Europe estimates, but we still get a little bit of data. It does mean our Europe estimates aren't as accurate as before.

As far as when we will be posting the Europe estimates I like to wait for all the data we still get to come in first and to see how sales are doing year-on-year in the US before doing them. Unless the big reports return in the future I will be posting the Europe estimates after the Americas estimates. 

Be sure to get your predictions in as Circana/NPD drops on Wednesday

Reminder: Less than 2 days to go.

• PS5: 450K
• X|S: 200K
• Switch: 150K