What you need to know
- The latest report from Circana reveals that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the best-selling game of December 2023 in the U.S.
- This wasn't quite enough to overtake the lead of Hogwarts Legacy, which was the best-selling game of 2023 in the U.S. overall.
- The PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console of the month in dollar sales and units sold, with the Nintendo Switch second place in both measures.
2024 has kicked off, but we've got some insights into how 2023 shaped out with video game sales in its final weeks.
The latest report from Circana executive director and video game analyst Mat Piscatella shows that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was the best-selling game of December 2023. Despite its second month in a row being on top, Call of Duty is #2 for the year overall, with Hogwarts Legacy taking the #1 spot for the year as a whole, with over 22 million copies sold worldwide.
For consoles, the PlayStation 5 was the best-seller in dollar sales and units sold, with the Nintendo Switch second in both measures. Despite being third place, Xbox consoles set a new high for unit sales during December, dethroning the prior record of December 2021. Piscatella notes that growth in PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S sales balanced out a decline in Nintendo Switch sales for the month.
Below, you can see the full details on the best-selling and most-played games of the month. Please remember that some companies, such as Nintendo, Take-Two Interactive and Epic Games, do not share digital sales data, which is one reason why games like Alan Wake 2 and Baldur's Gate 3 have been absent from most of the charts.
December 2023 Circana: Here are the top 20 best-selling games in the U.S.
1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)
2. Super Mario Bros. Wonder*
3. Madden NFL 24
4. Hogwarts Legacy
5. Marvel's Spider-Man 2
6. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
7. EA Sports FC 24
8. Mortal Kombat 1
9. NBA 2K24*
10. Mario Kart 8*
11. Super Mario RPG*
12. Sonic Superstars
13. Minecraft
14. God of War Ragnarok
15. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
16. Elden Ring
17. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom*
18. Just Dance 2024
19. Assassin's Creed Mirage
20. UFC 5
2023 Circana: Here are the best-selling games in the U.S. for the year
1. Hogwarts Legacy
2. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)
3. Madden NFL 24
4. Marvel's Spider-Man 2
5. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom*
6. Diablo 4
7. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022)
8. Mortal Kombat 1
9. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
10. EA Sports FC 24
11. Starfield
12. Super Mario Bros. Wonder*
13. Resident Evil 4 (2023)
14. MLB The Show 23**
15. Dead Island 2
16. Final Fantasy 16
17. Street Fighter 6
18. Elden Ring
19. Mario Kart 8*
20. Minecraft
* No digital data shared
** No digital data shared for Xbox or Nintendo platforms
What does the top 20 games bought and played means for players?
Diving into individual platform results, some interesting pictures emerge. Naturally, some of the biggest games are present everywhere, with Hogwarts Legacy the #1 game sold on PlayStation, #2 on Xbox, and fifth place on Nintendo Switch, despite the latter version launching toward the end of the year in November.
Console exclusive Marvel's Spider-Man 2 was in second place on PlayStation 5, while Bethesda Game Studios' science-fiction RPG Starfield was #7 on Xbox. Blizzard Entertainment's hack-and-slash adventure Diablo 4 is present on both consoles, taking the #4 spot on Xbox and the #8 spot on PlayStation.
The Dead Space remake, which arrived back in January 2023, is also in the top 20 for both consoles, at #15 on Xbox and just barely making the list at #20 for PlayStation.
While longevity of games sold is always going to drop off for some time, it's safe to infer that interest in big-budget RPGs and well-crafted, nostalgic survival-horror is still going strong.
Analysis: A year of great games, but hardware took a hit
Seeing the range of games that were sold and played and where they landed at the end of the year is always fascinating to me. While 2023 was a great year for games, it was decidedly less fantastic for hardware as a whole. I'll be curious to see if the leaked Xbox console refreshes pan out this year and how the market responds to those launches.
