Diablo, Final Fantasy, Street Fighter lived up to hype | Circana June 2023

June’s major releases have all rocketed up to the top of the best-seller list, according to industry-tracking firm Circana (formerly known as the NPD Group). While last month was pretty much just a Tears of the Kingdom show, three triple-A games are jockeying for the top spot on this month’s list. Spending on games is also up 9% total over last year, similar to last month’s year-on-year increase.

“It was the 2nd highest spending ever achieved in a June month, trailing only June 2021’s $4.8B,” said Mat Piscatella, Circana’s executive producer for games reports. “Spending on video game content increased by 7% in June when compared to a year ago, totaling $4.1 billion. Console & PC Digital Premium Download spending in the month increased by more than 50% year-on-year.”

This isn’t quite as drastic as last month’s 12% sales increase, but it’s still an impressive jump from last year’s sales. Hardware sales continue to climb, and even accessory sales are going up by an impressive percentage compared with last year. It’s also worth noting that June 2022 didn’t have as many triple-A titles on the best-seller list, and Elden Ring and LEGO Star Wars were still dominating sales.

“Content spending during the year’s first half reached $22.8B, flat to a year ago,” added Piscatella. “PlayStation 5 was the best-selling hardware platform in both unit and dollar sales during June 2023. Consumer spending on PlayStation hardware reached its highest June total since 2008, while unit sales were the highest achieved since June 2010. PlayStation 5 continues to lead the 2023 hardware market across both units and dollars.”

Circana June 2023: Top 20 best-selling games in the U.S.

While the three major releases may have topped the charts, a couple of other new titles have snuck onto the list: Namely, F1 23 and Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life. The racing title sales appear to be down compared with the previous game in the series, but they were enough to pop up on the June charts. The life sim, similarly, might have carved out its position thanks to being in a completely different genre than the other games on the list.

The only unexpected jumps in position are the two Marvel Spider-Man titles, both of which moved into the top 20 from slightly lower positions. This traffic was likely driven by the new footage of the sequel, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, shown at the summer gaming shows. Both games also went on sale during the PlayStation summer sales event.

June’s franchise triumphs

Last month’s top-seller, Tears of the Kingdom, displaced Hogwarts Legacy all by itself, but in June it’s joined by three new titles: Diablo IV, Street Fighter 6 and Final Fantasy XVI. It’s not exactly a surprise to see big games from major publishers sell well, but seeing all three do well without cannibalizing each other is still a welcome sight.

All three games have long-standing franchise hype behind them, which might have helped to drive their sales figures. Final Fantasy XVI’s 2nd place is also impressive considering it’s only available on PlayStation 5, as opposed to the other two multiplatform launches. Capcom announced at the beginning of July that Street Fighter 6 had sold 2 million copies in one month. Similarly, Final Fantasy XVI sold 3 million copies in its first week. And, while Blizzard has not revealed how many copies Diablo IV has sold yet, it announced in the middle of June that the game was its fastest-selling ever and had surpassed $666 million in sales.

Circana June 2023: Best-selling games of the year so far

In addition to their dominance of the month’s best-selling charts, all three games have also made it to the year-to-date best-seller chart. While no game has yet displaced Hogwarts Legacy, both Tears of the Kingdom and Diablo IV appear poised to try. Final Fantasy XVI and Street Fighter 6 have also both made it into the top 10 on the list, likely thanks to their aforementioned history.

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