Activision's latest Call of Duty release has soared to the top of the gaming software charts, eclipsing notable games such as Tekken 8, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, and Persona 3 Reload. Following closely, Madden NFL 24 secured its place among the top five video games.
Circana, a research firm, highlighted that other new titles also entered the top 20 rankings. Specifically, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth made an impressive entrance at number seven, while Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash debuted at numbers thirteen and nineteen, respectively.
Additionally, the remastered version of The Last of Us Part 2 for the PlayStation 5 saw a significant climb to the ninth spot, from being positioned at 167th in December, showcasing a notable revival in its popularity.
However, it's noteworthy that sales from Pocketpair’s game on Palmworld were not included in this monthly update by Circana due to tracking practices.
Turning to hardware, the PlayStation 5 continued its dominant run into 2023, emerging as the leader in dollar sales for the month. Circana's Executive Director Mat Piscatella noted that, after 39 months of being available, the PS5 had achieved a 7% higher life-to-date unit sales than the PS4 at the same stage. Moreover, it's outpacing the PS3 by a significant 68% in unit sales after the same duration in the market.
The Nintendo Switch held the second spot in unit sales, while the Xbox Series X/S followed closely in dollar sales.
With an increment in software sales and considering the use of a five-week tracking period compared to the previous year's four-week period, the total spend by United States consumers on game hardware, content, and accessories in January saw a 15% increase from the previous year, reaching a total of $5.1 billion.