After spending months in which Helldivers II held the top spot on the 2024 bestseller list, EA Sports College Football 25 has stolen its throne, in line with industry tracker Circana. Not only did the game sell well enough to top the charts in July, but it is also apparently responsible for a surge in overall video game sales this month. Unlike previous months, the numbers for every gaming sales category are up year-over-year.
“Video game content spending increased 10% year-over-year in July, as a 29% increase in console content and an 8% increase in mobile spending were partially offset by a 6% decline in VR content across PC, cloud and off-console,” said Mat Piscatella, Circan’s executive producer of gaming reports. “EA Sports College Football 25 debuted as the top-selling game of 2024 year-to-date and was a key driver of both content and hardware growth across console platforms.”
| July 2024 Sales in Dollars, Million | July 2023 | July 2024 | Change |
| Total Video Game Sales | 4349 dollars | 4773 dollars | 10% |
| Video game content (full physical and digital game, DLC/MTX, and consumer subscription spending across consoles, cloud platforms, mobile*, handheld, PC, and VR) | 3880 dollars | $4,263 | 10% |
| Video game equipment | 292 PLN | 326 PLN | 12% |
| Video game accessories | 177 PLN | 184 | 4% |
According to previous reports from Circan, July is the first month of 2024 to see growth in the hardware category. Piscatella added, referring to hardware sales, that “the growth in PlayStation 5 hardware (+25% vs. YA) and Xbox Series (+48%) was partially offset by a 44% drop in Switch spending.” It ought to be noted that EA Sports College Football 25 is only available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Circana July 2024: Top 20 Best-Selling Games in the US
| Degree | Last Month Degree | Title | Publisher |
| 1 | NEW | EA Sports College Football 25 | Electronic Art |
| 2 | NEW | EA Sports MVP Pack | Electronic Art |
| 3 | 1 | Ring of Fire | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| 4 | 2 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023) | Activision Blizzard (Company) |
| 5 | 6 | Minecraft | Many video game producers |
| 6 | NEW | Nintendo World Championship: NES Edition* | Nintendo |
| 7 | 5 | Hogwarts Legacy | Warner Bros. Games |
| 8 | 7 | MLB: Show 24^ | Many video game producers |
| 9 | 9 | EA Sports FC 24 | Electronic Art |
| 10 | 13 | Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 | Sony (Corporate) |
| 11 | 15 | Mortal Kombat 1 | Warner Bros. Games |
| 12 | 17 | Mario Kart 8* | Nintendo |
| 13 | 11 | Helldivers II | Sony (Corporate) |
| 14 | 30 | Tekken 8 | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| 15 | 8 | Luigi’s Manor 2* | Nintendo |
| 16 | 10 | Sea of Thieves | Microsoft (corporate) |
| 17 | 16 | UFC 5 | Electronic Art |
| 18 | 21 | Rainbow Six: Siege [Tom Clancy’s] | Ubisoft |
| 19 | 37 | Crew: Motorfest | Ubisoft |
| 20 | 12 | Spirit of Tsushima | Sony (Corporate) |
^Digital sales on Nintendo and Xbox platforms are not included
As mentioned, EA Sports College Football 25 is the top-selling title this month, but it also comes in second. The EA Sports MVP Bundle includes each EA Sports College Football 25 Deluxe Edition and Madden NFL 25 Deluxe Edition.
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The game’s popularity was evident at launch, as EA said in a statement that 2.2 million unique players played the game during the Early Access period, available to Deluxe Edition players three days prior to launch. EA CEO Andrew Wilson praised the game’s performance in an interview with an analyst, saying, “This is a monumental moment for EA Sports.”
The only other recent release to make the bestseller list is Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition. It’s at all times noteworthy when a recent Nintendo title makes it onto Circan’s bestseller list, if only because Nintendo doesn’t share digital sales data with Circan to incorporate in its evaluation.
Tekken 8 and The Crew: Motorfest profit from sales
Two games that returned to Circan’s top 20 from lower spots are The Crew: Motorfest and Tekken 8. The two titles rose from thirty seventh to nineteenth place and from thirtieth to 14th place, respectively. The reason for each games’ increases appears to be a combination of summer sales and recent content updates. Motorfest introduced Season 4 content, which added recent cars and the “Donk vs Lowrider” playlist. The game was also available to play for free on all platforms from July 4–11.
Tekken 8 was a part of multiple summer sales, including the PlayStation Summer Sale and the Steam Summer Sale. Walmart and Best Buy also offered deals on console editions of the game. In terms of content, Bandai Namco introduced several recent features to the game in July’s 1.06 update, in addition to the addition of Lidia Sobieska to the roster.
Circana July 2024: The 20 Best-Selling Games of 2024 So Far
| Degree | Last Month Degree | Title | Publisher |
| 1 | NEW | EA Sports College Football 25 | Electronic Art |
| 2 | 1 | Helldivers II | Sony (Corporate) |
| 3 | 2 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023) | Activision Blizzard (Company) |
| 4 | 3 | Dogma of the Dragon II | Capcom Poland |
| 5 | NEW | EA Sports MVP Pack | Electronic Art |
| 6 | 6 | Ring of Fire | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| 7 | 4 | MLB: Show 24^ | Many video game producers |
| 8 | 5 | WWE 2K24** | Take Two Interactive |
| 9 | 7 | Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth | Square Enix Inc (Company) |
| 10 | 8 | Tekken 8 | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| 11 | 10 | Hogwarts Legacy | Warner Bros. Games |
| 12 | 9 | Madden NFL 24 | Electronic Art |
| 13 | 11 | NBA 2K24 | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) |
| 14 | 12 | Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League | Warner Bros. Games |
| 15 | 13 | EA Sports FC 24 | Electronic Art |
| 16 | 14 | P3: Persona 3: Reload | Sega |
| 17 | 16 | Minecraft | Many video game producers |
| 18 | 15 | Grand Theft Auto V** | Take Two Interactive |
| 19 | 17 | Sea of Thieves | Microsoft (corporate) |
| 20 | 18 | Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 | Sony (Corporate) |
^Digital sales on Nintendo and Xbox platforms are not included
**Digital sales in May-July are not included
Both EA Sports College Football 25 and EA Sports MVP Bundle joined the list of best-selling games of 2024, with the former knocking Helldivers II off the top spot for the first time since its February release. Elden Ring maintained its regular spot on the list despite most of the other games being displaced by the two recent titles — likely as a result of the lingering effects of Shadow of the Erdtree.