Circana: U.S. Video Game Spending Reaches $4.2B in May 2026
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Jun 26 2026
0mins
Circana analyst Mat Piscatella said that U.S. video game spending reached $4.2B in May 2026, an increase of 3% when compared to a year ago. Year-to-date spending finished May 4% higher than 2025, at $23B. May 2026 hardware spending grew 38% versus a year ago, to $249M. Nintendo Switch 2 (NTDOY) offset a 43% drop in PlayStation 5 (SONY) spending and a 58% dip in unit sales driven by recent price increases. Xbox Series (MSFT) hardware spending grew 7% versus a year ago, though units fell by 12%. Nintendo Switch 2 was again the best-selling hardware platform in both units and dollars for May and 2026 year-to-date, with PlayStation 5 placing second across both measures and time periods. Nintendo Switch 2 finished its first twelve months in market with a 5.9M unit U.S. installed base. It is the 2nd fastest selling video game hardware in US tracked history. Only the Game Boy Advance's 6.5M units exceeds it. PlayStation hardware unit sales fell to their lowest May total since May 2000, while Xbox hardware unit sales were the lowest ever recorded for a May month. The average price paid for a new unit of video game hardware reached $502 in May, up 14% compared to a year ago. May 2026 PlayStation 5 average pricing increased by 33% versus a year ago to $672, with Xbox Series up 22%, to $524. Meanwhile, content spending reached $3.8B in May 2026, increasing by 1% when compared to a year ago. Year-to-date content spending remained 3% ahead of 2025, at $20.4B. Console drove content spending growth in May. Total spending on console content increased by 25% compared to a year ago and is now 13% higher year-to-date. PC content (+15% versus a year ago) and subscription spending (+11%) also grew in May. IO Interactive's "007 First Light" was May's leader in full game dollar sales, debuting as the 4th best-seller of 2026 year-to-date. It also led all titles in full game dollar sales on PlayStation platforms in the month. Microsoft's "Forza Horizon 6" was the 2nd best-selling game of the month and finished May ranked 5th year-to-date. "Forza Horizon 6" ranked 1st in May full game dollar sales on both Xbox and PC. Other top-selling games for the month included Warner Bros. Discovery's (WBD) "LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight," Unknown Worlds' "Subnautica 2," Nintendo's "Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream," and Sony's "MLB The Show 26."
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Analyst Views on SONY
Wall Street analysts forecast SONY stock price to rise
1 Analyst Rating
1 Buy
0 Hold
0 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 21.160
Low
34.00
Averages
34.00
High
34.00
Current: 21.160
Low
34.00
Averages
34.00
High
34.00
About SONY
Sony Group Corp is a Japan-based company engaged in the games & network services (G&NS), music, movies, entertainment technology & services (ET&S), imaging & sensing solutions (I&SS) and other businesses. It has seven business segments. G&NS segment is involved in network service business, the manufacture and sale of home video game consoles and software. The Music segment mainly includes music production, music publishing and video media platform businesses. The Movies segment mainly includes film production, television program production and media network businesses. The ET&S field mainly includes the television business, audio, video business, still image, video camera business, smartphone business and Internet-related service business. The I&SS segment mainly includes the image sensor business. The Financial segment is involved in the insurance business and banking business. The Other segment consists of activities such as disc manufacturing business and recording media business.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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See More
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