US game spending fell 6% in May | US Monthly Charts

Ghost of Tsushima has taken the top spot in Circana’s US charts for May.

Sucker Punch’s 2020 action-adventure game jumped 70 places from its rank of 71 last month after the hitherto Sony console exclusive debuted on Steam in May.

It generated a “slightly higher consumer spending total” across physical and digital game sales than runner-up Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, as Nintendo does not share its digital data.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Helldivers 2, and MLB: The Show 24 round out the top five.

New releases F1 24, Homeworld 3, and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door joined the Top 20 as the 19th, 14th, and second best-selling games of the period respectively, although Paper Mario’s digital sales are not represented in those numbers.

According to Circana’s Player Engagement Tracker, xDefiant debuted at No.5 in May in terms of monthly active users on PlayStation 5, and ranked 6th on Xbox Series. Fortnite led both platforms in monthly active users during the month, while Helldivers 2 secured the top spot on Steam.

Last month’s top-selling game, Stellar Blade, dropped to 10th position.

The projected total US spend on video game hardware, content, and accessories declined 6 percent in May 2024 YoY, falling to $4.0 billion. Similarly, May 2024 content spending fell 3 percent, too, as – according to Mat Piscatella, executive director, video games at Circana – “13 percent growth in Mobile content spending could not offset a 40 percent drop on console”.

Here are the top 20 selling games from the period of May 5 to June 1, data courtesy of Circana: