U.S. game spending rose to $57.2B in 2023, says ESA and Circana

Overall consumer spending on video games in the United States totaled $57.2B in 2023, according to data released by the Entertainment Software Association and Circana. This figure reflects profits from all video game content categories — physical and digital full-game, downloadable content/microtransactions and subscription spending across console, cloud, mobile, portable, PC and virtual reality platforms — video game hardware and video game accessories. “These figures reinforce the position of the video game industry as a growth engine for the United States economy,” said ESA President and CEO Stanley Pierre-Louis. “When combined with the fact that nearly two-thirds of Americans play video games regularly, cutting across all demographics and backgrounds, these results confirm the video game industry’s impact as an economic and creative powerhouse with far-reaching cultural influence.” Total video game sales reached $57.2B in 2023, up from $56.6B in 2022. Video game content spending ended up from 2022, driven by a 13% increase in digital download spending across console platforms and an 11% increase in digital premium download segments on PC, Cloud and non-console VR platforms. Hardware sales remained steady at $6.6B, and accessory sales were up 4%. The top selling games in the U.S. in 2023, according to the ESA and Circana, were Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) “Hogwarts Legacy,” Activision’s (MSFT) “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” EA‘s (EA) “Madden NFL 24,” Sony‘s (SONY) “Marvel’s Spider-Man 2,” Nintendo’s (NTDOY) “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” and Blizzard’s “Diablo IV.” The ESA noted that digita sales were not included for “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.”