What you need to know
- Every month, Circana provides insight into the best-selling games and gaming hardware in the U.S.
- PlayStation and Sucker Punch Productions’ Ghost of Tsushima was the best-selling game of May 2024, per Circana, mostly due to the Windows PC version of the game that launched in the same month.
- PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console hardware, with Xbox Series X|S second in dollar sales.
PlayStation and Sucker Punch Productions’ 2020 samurai adventure was at the top of last month’s charts.
That’s according to Circana executive director and advisor Mat Piscatella, who shared details on Monday regarding the best-selling games and hardware of May 2024. Per Piscatella, Ghost of Tsushima was the best-selling game of the month, driven largely by the arrival of the game’s Windows PC version.
Ghost of Tsushima was followed by Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023), and Helldivers 2. Meanwhile, April 2024’s best-seller, Stellar Blade, fell to tenth place for May. Xbox titles Fallout 4, Minecraft, and Sea of Thieves all helped round out the list of best-sellers for the month.
Over in hardware, the PlayStation 5 was again the best-selling console for the month. The Nintendo Switch took second place in individual units sold, while Xbox Series X|S consoles were second in dollar sales. Overall spending for the month reached $4 billion, a 6% drop year-over-year from a month that included the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
You can see the best-selling games of the month (and the year so far) below. As always, some companies don’t share digital data, including Nintendo and Take-Two Interactive, while others like Larian Studios don’t share any data at all.
May 2024 Circana: Here are the top 20 best-selling games in the U.S.
1. Ghost of Tsushima
2. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door*
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)
4. Helldivers 2
5. MLB The Show 24**
6. Sea of Thieves
7. Minecraft
8. Elden Ring
9. Hogwarts Legacy
10. Stellar Blade
11. Fallout 4
12. EA Sports FC 24
13. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
14. Homeworld 3
15. Mario Kart 8*
16. Madden NFL 24
17. Rise of the Ronin
18. F1 24
19. Mortal Kombat 1
20. Dragon’s Dogma 2
*Denotes no digital sales data
**Denotes no digital sales data on Xbox or Nintendo Switch
***Denotes no digital sales data for March through May
May 2024 Circana: Here are the best-selling games of the year so far
1. Helldivers 2
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)
3. Dragon’s Dogma 2
4. MLB The Show 24**
5. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
6. Tekken 8
7. Madden NFL 24
8. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
9. Hogwarts Legacy
10. Persona 3 Reload
11. NBA 2K24***
12. EA Sports FC 24
13. Sea of Thieves
14. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
15. Minecraft
16. Stellar Blade
17. Rise of the Ronin
18. Elden Ring
19. Grand Theft Auto V***
20. Skull and Bones
Analysis: Some strong legacy titles, but little else
It’s great to see older games performing this well. Whether that’s through expanding to additional platforms — such as Ghost of Tsushima coming to PC and Sea of Thieves coming to PlayStation 5 — or through renewed interest via media synergy, like the explosion in Fallout’s popularity since the launch of the acclaimed Prime Video show.
For newer games though, this wasn’t a fantastic month. This year needs a couple of big blockbusters to really shake things up and drive sales, because right now, the doldrums have set in, especially with Piscatella noting that May 2024’s best-seller had the lowest sales for a May in the U.S. since May 2013.
