Assassin’s Creed Shadows topped Circana’s charts for US game sales in March 2025, while monthly video game hardware spending slipped 25% year-on-year.
The latest entry in Ubisoft’s series is the second best-selling game of the year in the US so far after Monster Hunter Wilds. Circana noted Assassin’s Creed Shadows finished first in full game dollar sales on Xbox, and second on both PlayStation and Steam.
One observation shared by Circana’s Mat Piscatella on BlueSky is that it was the third biggest debut in launch month dollar sales for the series behind only 2012’s Assassin’s Creed 3 and 2020’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
Other new entries in the chart include MLB: The Show 25 in second place (not counting digital sales on Switch and Xbox), along with the latest in the WWE 2K series at number four, and EA/Hazelight co-op game Split Fiction at number five.
Lower down the charts, anime tie-in Bleach: Rebirth of Souls came in ninth place, while Nintendo’s Xenoblade Chronicles X remaster made 17th place on physical sales alone. 18th place saw the debut of a remaster for the first two games in Konami’s Suikoden RPG series.
In mobile gaming, Sensor Tower’s Samuel Aune said the market did experience contraction compared to March 2024, but pointed out the top ten games were generally seeing success.
The number one mobile game for March by consumer spending is once again Monopoly Go, followed by Candy Crush Saga which rises two places, and Last War: Survival which drops a place. Pokémon Go climbed four places to number six in the charts.
“Six out of the top ten saw double digit growth month over month, with Pokémon GO seeing 42% increase in consumer spend thanks to the Unova Tour event,” Aune said. “Candy Crush Saga saw 12% growth, allowing the venerable puzzle game to retake the #3 spot from Last War: Survival, which only grew 1.6%.
“Coin Master also had an excellent month, with 15% growth.” Coin Master climbed two places to number seven.
Overall spending declined 6% to around $4.7 billion versus last March, while spending so far for 2025 – $13.7 billion – is 12% behind 2024’s total in the same timeframe.
Hardware spend, as mentioned, once again experienced a dropoff in the US, in a pattern similar to February’s results. The total video game hardware spend in March 2025 was $286 million, the lowest March total since 2019 ($279 million).
PS5 spend still leads, even as hardware dollar sales fell 26% compared to March 2024. Xbox Series sales dropped 9% versus the same time period, while the Nintendo Switch dropped 37%. Piscatella says digital-only SKUs have accounted for 75% of Xbox Series and 50% of PlayStation 5 hardware sales in the year so far.
Here are the top 20 selling games from the period February 2 to March 1, 2025, data courtesy of Circana:
| Rank | Last month rank | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | NEW | Assassin’s Creed Shadows |
| 2 | NEW | MLB: The Show 25^^ |
| 3 | 1 | Monster Hunter Wilds |
| 4 | NEW | WWE 2K25 |
| 5 | NEW | Split Fiction |
| 6 | 6 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 |
| 7 | 4 | PGA Tour 2K25 |
| 8 | 5 | NBA 2K25 |
| 9 | NEW | Bleach: Rebirth of Souls |
| 10 | 2 | Kingdom Come: Deliverance II |
| 11 | 11 | Minecraft^ |
| 12 | 9 | Grand Theft Auto V |
| 13 | 12 | EA Sports FC 25 |
| 14 | 14 | Red Dead Redemption 2 |
| 15 | 10 | Madden NFL 25 |
| 16 | 18 | Elden Ring |
| 17 | NEW | Xenoblade Chronicles X* |
| 18 | NEW | Suikoden I and II HD Remaster: Gate Rune & Dunan Unification Wars |
| 19 | 13 | Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 |
| 20 | 16 | EA Sports College Football 25 |
^Digital sales on Nintendo platforms not included.
^^Digital sales on Nintendo and Xbox platforms not included.
*Digital sales not included for marked titles.
