The US video games market generated $4.5 billion in July, a 10% decline compared with the same month a year earlier, according to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, with hardware, accessories and software contracting simultaneously.

Console revenue fell 29% to $282 million, marking the worst July for hardware spending since 2020. Piscatella attributed the drop to two factors: fading launch demand for the Nintendo Switch 2, which arrived in 2025 to unusually strong sell-through, and a memory pricing crisis that has lifted console MSRPs across the industry.

Unit sales broke the hardware decline down by platform:

• Nintendo Switch 2: down 51% year-over-year
• Xbox Series: down 18%
• PlayStation 5: down 6%

The Switch 2 figure stands out as the steepest single-platform hardware swing in the dataset and reflects the post-launch normalization curve Piscatella has tracked since the device's first full quarter on shelves. Xbox Series and PS5 declines line up with the memory cost pass-through that has reached most mid-generation SKUs.

Gaming accessories generated $187 million, down 6% year-over-year. Software sales slipped 9% to $4.07 billion. Piscatella identified the mobile segment as the chief drag, with console and PC spending also softer than the prior July.

Call of Duty rereleases reset the chart

Software demand concentrated around Activision's Call of Duty rerelease program. Black Ops II took the top spot after a PS4 and PS5 port launched at the start of July, climbing 66 positions month-over-month. The original Black Ops, ported under the same campaign, rose 145 places to fifth.

The remainder of the top ten leaned on new releases and first-window entries:

1. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (↑66)
2. EA Sports College Football 27 (new)
3. Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced (new)
4. EA Sports MVP Bundle (new)
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops I (↑145)
6. Halo: Campaign Evolved (new)
7. Splatoon Raiders (new)
8. Echoes of Aincrad (new)
9. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream (↓3)
10. 007 First Light (↓7)

EA Sports College Football 27 and the EA Sports MVP Bundle entered on launch. Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, Halo Studios' Halo: Campaign Evolved, Nintendo's Splatoon Raiders, and 007 First Light all debuted in their first month on shelves. Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, the Switch follow-up to the 2014 3DS original, slipped three places to ninth after its May debut.

Circana's digital sales estimates cover publisher-reported figures for Echoes of Aincrad and forecast-based data for each of the other nine ranked titles.

What changes for studios and platform holders

Three signals stand out for publishers, platform owners, and accessory makers planning the back half of the year. The US addressable base for premium software has compressed just as Switch 2 momentum normalizes and memory costs push retail prices upward. Re-releases remain a reliable ceiling-lifter in soft macro months: the Black Ops port duo captured the chart's two largest rank jumps from outside the top tier. Mobile's drag on the total remains outsized, confirming that the contraction extends beyond consoles and gaming PCs into the platforms that drive casual play volume.

Watchpoints for August include the next Circana print for confirmation of the trend, Microsoft and Sony's pricing response on Xbox and PlayStation hardware through the holiday window, and any updated Switch 2 shipment guidance from Nintendo ahead of the device's second holiday on the market.