U.S. video game consumer spending grew 3% y/y in August, says Circana

Circana analyst Mat Piscatella said that August 2023 U.S. consumer spending on video game content, hardware and accessories grew 3% vs YA, to $4.2B. Growth across both content and accessories spending offset a double-digit percentage decline in hardware. Year-to-date U.S. consumer spending across video game products was 2% higher than a year ago, at $34.9B. Spending on video game content in August grew 4% vs YA, to $3.7B. On console and PC platforms, growth in digital premium downloads offset declines across physical SW and digital add-ons. Non-mobile subscription spending fell 4%, while Sensor Tower reported mobile growth of 2.5%. Video game hardware spending fell 13% when compared to a year ago, to $328M. PlayStation 5 (SONY) dollar sales fell by a single-digit percentage in the month when compared to a year ago, while both Switch (NTDOY) and Xbox Series (MSFT) declined by a double-digit percentage. PlayStation 5 was the best-selling hardware platform in both unit and dollar sales during August 2023, with Xbox Series ranking 2nd across both measures. PlayStation 5 continued to lead the 2023 hardware market across both units and dollars. Year-to-date hardware spending was 13% higher when compared to the same period in 2022, at $3.2B. Accessories spending in Aug grew by 12% vs YA, to $159M. 7 of the top 8 best-selling accessories of August in dollar sales were PlayStation DualSense gamepads, with PlayStation VR2 ranking as the only non-DualSense gamepad appearing among the top 8. Other publicly traded companies in the video game space include Electronic Arts (EA), Activision Blizzard (ATVI), Take-Two (TTWO), Tencent (TCEHY), Roblox (RBLX), Ubisoft (UBSFY), Capcom (CCOEY), Square Enix (SQNXF), and GameStop (GME).