April 2025 Circana (NPD) covers the four-week period from April 6 to May 3 and will be released on May 21.

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 April 2024:

1. PS5 - 253K
2. NS - 130K
3. XSX|S - 116K

VGChartz US estimates for March 2025:

1. PS5 - 370K
2. XSX|S - 164K
3. NS - 148K

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

• Apr (Apr 6 - May 3) - May 21
• May (May 4 - May 31) - Jun 18
• Jun (Jun 1 - Jul 5) - Jul 23
• Jul (Jul 6 - Aug 2) - Aug 20
• Aug (Aug 3 - Aug 30) - Oct 8

Circana's Mat Piscatella says August is late due to "upgrades". He will share details in the future.

Results:

TDLR

Units: PS5 > XS > NS
Revenue: PS5 > XB > NS

Link to the VGChartz article here.

PS5 Best-Seller in the US in April, Oblivion: Remastered Debuts in 1st

The PlayStation 5 was once again the best-selling console in the US in April 2025 in terms of units sold and dollar sales, according to figures from Circana (formerly The NPD Group). Circana includes the dates for the four-week period of April 6 to May 3.

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 five percent year-on-year, the Xbox Series X|S is up eight percent, and the Nintendo Switch is down 37 percent.

Digital SKUs for April accounted for 66 percent of Xbox Series X|S sales and 48 percent of PlayStation 5 sales.

Hardware revenue had its worst month since July 2020's $163 million with a total of $186 million.

Overall spending on video games in March decreased three percent year-on-year from $4.19 billion to $4.07 billion. Spending on video game content decreased two percent from 3.82 billion to $3.73 billion, while video game hardware sales decreased eight percent from $203 million to $186 million. Spending on accessories decreased two percent from $170 million to $166 million.

In terms of 2024 total sales, overall spending on video games is down six percent year-on-year from $19.29 billion to $17.79 billion. Spending on video game content decreased six percent from $17.05 billion to $16.04 billion, while video game hardware sales dropped 28 percent from $1.30 billion to $0.93 billion. Spending on accessories decreased 13 percent from $0.94 billion to $0.82 billion.

"April 2025 total market projected U.S. consumer spending across video game hardware, content and accessories fell 3% when compared to a year ago, to $4.1B," said Circana Executive Director and Video Game Industry Analyst Mat Piscatella. "2025 year-to-date spending was 8% behind 2024’s pace, at $17.8B."

He added, "April video game content spending declined by 2% compared to a year ago, to $3.7B. 18% YoY growth in non-mobile subscription spend and a 16% gain in Console digital premium downloads were offset by declines in other content segments."

The PlayStation 5 Dual Sense Wireless Controller Midnight Black was the best-selling accessory in terms of units and dollar sales in April.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered was the best-selling game in April and instantly became the third best-selling game of 2025. It was the best-selling game on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered sold more units in April 2025 than The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion sold in its first 15 months following its March 2006 release and generated more dollar sales than the original's first 14 months.

Xbox releasing two of its bigger releases on PlayStation 5 helped drive sales. Forza Horizon 5 shot up from 42nd to second place, while Indiana Jones and the Great Circle jumped from 118th to sixth place.

Four of the top five, and five of the top seven, best-selling games on PlayStation were published by Microsoft.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was the 19th most played game on Xbox in April and 21st on Steam. It was in the top 35 best-sellers for the month and top 25 for PlayStation. Only the physical release was counted towards the units sold charts. 

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

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

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

5 days left to get your predictions in

Data is out on Mat's page.
PS5
Series S/X
Switch

Typical month. The real interesting ones will be May to see how the price hike affects Xbox hardware and in June to see how much Switch 1 continues to sell with Switch 2 out. The battle for 3rd and 4th place will be curious at that point.

I'd say PS5 and Xbox Series X|S relatively held well compared to last year. 

Mat did note the Xbox price increase was not fully implemented by the end of week ending May 3.

"So looking at ASPs it doesn't appear that the price increase had been fully executed at the retail level by end of w/e 5.3. Units increased compared to prior week. Impact won't be known for a few more weeks."