2d ago

Video Game Physical Software and Hardware Sales Just Had the Worst November in the U.S. Since 1995 - IGN

www.ign.com Video Game Physical Software and Hardware Sales Just Had the Worst November in the U.S. Since 1995 - IGN

Last month, November, was a shockingly terrible month for video game sales in the U.S. While we traditionally think of November as a huge sales month what with Black Friday and all, November 2025 was the worst November in video game hardware unit sales, and the worst in physical software dollar sale...

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Worth pointing out that Circana does not fully track Steam (only some, albeit large publishers). They don't track GOG or Epic at all (they are of course a lot smaller than Steam).
- Why would any of that affect physical software? Does steam and gog sell cartridges or discs that I'm unaware of?
  
  I got confused by the following:
  While Circana reports that content spending was up 1% year-over-year to $4.8 billion, that's with subscription spending rising 16% and 2% growth in mobile.
  
  That's just saying overall revenue is up, but that includes digital sales like subscriptions and mobile storefront sales.
  While physical sales are down, the digital sales make up for the loss to the point of actually being a 1% gain.
  
  If it refers to the total games software market (digital sales, physical sales, micro-transactions, subscriptions and mobile), then I think I my point stands.
  I wasn't sure if "content spending" excludes say micro-transactions for software that is not available physically.
  
  I mean Valve sells the Steam Deck(s)?
  
  The steamdeck is physical software? I thought it was hardware with digital software.
  
  Read it again:
  Physical software and hardware sales
  
  I say this as someone who loves their Steam Deck... Steam Deck sales are insignificant compared to consoles.
  6 million in 3 years:
  https://birchtree.me/blog/steam-deck-sales-numbers-are-in-and-theyre-not-as-spectacular-as-id-hope-but-i-do-still-have-hope/
  The Switch 2 has sold over 10 million, June to September. 3 months. There has been another 3 months since then.
  https://variety.com/2025/digital/news/nintendo-switch-2-sales-10-million-1236569355/
  
  Of course, there's a significant difference between the two, as a Switch 2 is the only way to play Switch 2 games, while you can play Steam games on a multitude of devices, including other portable ones.
  
  And more significantly, the Switch 2 is for kids. There's no sizable youth market for the Steam Deck.
  But out of all the handheld PCs, the Steam Deck is #1, so that should give you some idea about the sales on the others. 😉
  https://www.theverge.com/pc-gaming/618709/steam-deck-3-year-anniversary-handheld-gaming-shipments-idc
  
  No one said it was significant.
- This is about physical sales, not digital.

96 comments