The latest video game industry sales data for the U.S. is here, with Circana executive director and analyst digging into the best-selling games and hardware of August 2025 in a thread on Bluesky.
2K Games’ NBA 2K26 was the bestseller for the month, followed by Electronic Arts’ Madden NFL 26, which was July 2025’s bestseller. The next couple of games were also new releases, with 2K’s Mafia: The Old Country coming in at #3, while Konami’s Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater snagged the #4 spot.
Multiple Xbox-published games rounded out the top 20 bestsellers, including The Coalition’s Gears of War: Reloaded, which debuted in sixth place for the month. PlayStation’s Helldivers 2 got a bump from launching on Xbox, jumping up to #14 after being off the top 20 chart for a while.
Hardware sales were up 32% year-over-year, driven primarily by the continued sales of the Nintendo Switch 2, as Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch were all down by a “double-digit percentage.”
Non-mobile subscription spending continues the trend of the last few months, and is up 19% year-over-year.
Overall spending was up 11% year-over-year, reaching a total of $4.7 billion in sales for the month.
August 2025 Circana sales charts: Here are the top 20 best-selling games in the U.S.
1. NBA 2K26
2. Madden NFL 26
3. Mafia: The Old Country
4. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
5. EA Sports College Football 26
6. Gears of War: Reloaded
7. Donkey Kong Bananza*
8. EA Sports MVP Bundle (2025)
9. EA Sports Kickoff Bundle (2025)
10. Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2
11. Minecraft****
12. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
13. Grand Theft Auto 5
14. Helldivers 2
15. Forza Horizon 5
16. Grounded 2
17. WWE 2K25
18. Hogwarts Legacy
19. Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar
20. Red Dead Redemption 2
August 2025 Circana sales charts: Here are the best-selling games of the year in the U.S.
*Denotes no digital sales data
**Denotes no digital sales data on Xbox or Nintendo Switch
****Denotes no digital sales data on Nintendo Switch
A varied month, even with several of the usual heavy-hitters
A lot of the games here aren’t really surprising to see, but it’s still nice that there’s good variety in the mix for this month.
I’m particularly pleasantly surprised to see Mafia: The Old Country charting so high. The game launched at $50, a decision made by 2K and the developers in recognition of it being a shorter experience.
I’m also continuing to note the increase in subscription spending year-over-year. With the recent Xbox Game Pass price hike and the impending launch of several Xbox first-party titles (in particular, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7) I’m going to be fascinated to see if there’s any discernible difference that can be tracked from that point on.
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