July 2025 U.S. video game sales saw a noticeable bump, according to new data shared by Mat Piscatella of Circana and Sensor Tower. Total spending reached $5.1 billion, up 5 percent compared to the same month last year. Both hardware and content played a role, with Nintendo Switch 2 driving sales on the console side and subscriptions helping fuel overall growth in content.
One of the most interesting numbers came from subscriptions. Spending on non-mobile video game subscription services rose 21 percent year-over-year in July, climbing to half a billion dollars. Year-to-date totals show the trend continuing, with subscriptions up 19 percent compared to 2024. For many gamers, these services provide more than just access to digital libraries. They also include cloud-based options, making this growth especially significant for the future of the ‘play anywhere’ vision.
Mobile spending also made gains, growing 7 percent in July. Free Fire stood out as the biggest driver, surging up the charts and surpassing Call of Duty Mobile in U.S. revenue. Combined with subscription momentum, this points to a shift in how and where gamers are choosing to spend, even as traditional console content spending slipped by 9 percent year-over-year.
This mix of rising subscriptions, strong mobile growth, and hardware shifts offers a snapshot of an industry in transition, where cloud and portable access are becoming more central to the conversation.
Subscription Spending Surges Amid Console Content Decline
Content spending also showed growth in July 2025, climbing four percent year-over-year to reach four and a half billion dollars. The gains were not spread evenly, however, with some areas rising sharply while others fell behind. Mobile content spending increased seven percent compared to last year, reaching two point three billion dollars for the month.
The strongest growth came from non-mobile subscriptions. According to Circana’s Mat Piscatella, subscription spending jumped twenty one percent year-over-year in July, climbing to five hundred million dollars. On a year-to-date basis, subscriptions are now up nineteen percent, with totals reaching three point six billion dollars. This makes subscription services one of the few consistently expanding segments of the market in 2025.
By comparison, console content spending declined nine percent year-over-year in July, offsetting some of the overall gains. This drop reflects shifting consumer habits, where digital access models and mobile content are playing larger roles in overall spending.
This growth matters because leading services like Xbox Game Pass and PlayStation Plus Premium now include cloud access. Just this week, Microsoft began testing Xbox Cloud Gaming for Game Pass Core and Standard subscribers, further widening cloud availability within the subscription model. Until now, cloud features were limited to Game Pass Ultimate. Expanding these capabilities could help accelerate adoption, especially as subscription spending continues to rise.
Taken together, the contrasting results highlight a market in transition, with subscription services standing out as the most consistent growth driver. Console content is slipping, while subscription and mobile growth continues to climb. With cloud functionality increasingly tied to these services, the spending trends in July reinforce the idea that flexible, play-anywhere options are gaining ground.
July 2025 U.S. Game Sales: EA Sports, Donkey Kong, and Tony Hawk Lead
July’s U.S. sales charts were headlined by EA Sports College Football 26, which stormed into first place and secured the third spot on the year-to-date rankings. Its debut marked a powerful return for the franchise after more than a decade away. The EA Sports MVP Bundle followed in second, also charting twelfth year-to-date, giving Electronic Arts a commanding start to the month. EA’s footprint extended further with EA Sports FC 25 at eighteenth and F1 25 rounding out the top twenty.
Nintendo’s Donkey Kong Bananza made a strong debut at number three. Despite only physical sales being counted, it still managed to land in the overall top three and stood as the best-selling title on Nintendo platforms for the month.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 impressed with a fourth-place finish, ranking among the top sellers on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo, and PC. This broad success shows the enduring appeal of the franchise and the strength of cross-platform availability.
Microsoft titles also performed well, with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 holding fifth, Forza Horizon 5 at seventh, and Grounded 2 debuting at eighth despite releasing late in the month on July 29.
Elsewhere, evergreen hits continued to show their strength. Minecraft climbed to sixth, while Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption II both returned to the top ten. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach charted at twelfth, while Elden Ring and Elden Ring: Nightreign remained within the top fifteen.
Together, these results highlight a balanced mix of new sports launches, exclusive blockbusters, and long-standing favorites, reflecting a market where both fresh releases and established titles drive strong demand. Many of these games are also available on cloud services, giving gamers even more flexibility in how they play.
July 2025 U.S. Game Sales and Cloud Gaming Availability
Here’s a closer look at July’s top 20 U.S. best-sellers, along with their availability on cloud gaming platforms.
| Rank | Title | Cloud Gaming Availability | Review link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | College Football 26 | Review | |
| 2 | EA Sports MVP Bundle (2025) | ||
| 3 | Donkey Kong Bananza | Review | |
| 4 | Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 | GeForce NOW, Boosteroid, Xbox Cloud Gaming, AirGPU, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | Review |
| 5 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 | Boosteroid, GeForce NOW, Xbox Cloud Gaming, AirGPU, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | Review |
| 6 | Minecraft | PlayStation Cloud Gaming, AirGPU, Shadow PC | |
| 7 | Forza Horizon 5 | GeForce NOW, PlayStation Cloud Gaming, Xbox Cloud Gaming, AirGPU, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | Review |
| 8 | Grounded 2 | GeForce NOW, Xbox Cloud Gaming, AirGPU, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | |
| 9 | Red Dead Redemption 2 | Boosteroid, Sora Stream, Shadow PC, AirGPU, CloudDeck | |
| 10 | Grand Theft Auto V | Boosteroid, Sora Stream, Xbox Cloud Gaming, AirGPU, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | |
| 11 | MLB: The Show 25 | Review | |
| 12 | Death Stranding 2: On The Beach | Review | |
| 13 | WWE 2K25 | Boosteroid, AirGPU, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | Review |
| 14 | Elden Ring | Boosteroid, Sora Stream, AirGPU, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | |
| 15 | NBA 2K25 | Boosteroid, Xbox Cloud Gaming, AirGPU, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | Review |
| 16 | Elden Ring: Nightreign | Boosteroid, AirGPU, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | Review |
| 17 | Split Fiction | Boosteroid, GeForce NOW, AirGPU, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | Review |
| 18 | EA Sports FC 25 | Amazon Luna, Boosteroid, Xbox Cloud Gaming, AirGPU, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | Review |
| 19 | Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 | Boosteroid, PlayStation Cloud Gaming, AirGPU, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | |
| 20 | F1 25 | AirGPU, CloudDeck, Shadow PC |
Nintendo Switch 2 Sales Dominate Hardware
Hardware spending in the U.S. market rose sharply in July 2025, climbing twenty one percent year-over-year to reach three hundred eighty four million dollars. Circana’s Mat Piscatella noted it was the strongest July for U.S. hardware since 2008, when spending hit four hundred forty one million dollars. The increase came almost entirely from the strong performance of Nintendo Switch 2.
Nintendo Switch 2 crossed a major milestone during the month, surpassing two million units sold in the United States since launch. It is not just selling well, it is moving at a pace seventy five percent ahead of the original Nintendo Switch at the same stage in its lifecycle. That makes Nintendo Switch 2 the company’s fastest-selling console in years and the clear driver of July’s hardware gains.
Nintendo Switch 2 was also the best-selling hardware platform in the U.S. in both units and dollars for the month, as well as year-to-date. The story was different for other systems. U.S. spending on PlayStation 5 hardware dropped forty seven percent compared to last year, Xbox Series sales fell sixty nine percent, and the original Nintendo Switch was down fifty two percent.
All of this makes it clear that in the U.S. market, Nintendo Switch 2 is the biggest hardware story of 2025 so far. While Nintendo Switch 2 does not fully align with the play anywhere vision we emphasize at Cloud Dosage, its success is impossible to ignore. If you want a closer look at how the system performs, check out our full Nintendo Switch 2 review. For more on how cloud gaming could fit into Nintendo’s future, check out our editorial: Could Nintendo Embrace Cloud Gaming on the Nintendo Switch 2?
Subscriptions and Cloud Shape the Future of the U.S. Video Game Market
July 2025 turned out to be a busy month for the U.S. video game market. Total spending hit five point one billion dollars, with both hardware and content playing their part. Nintendo Switch 2 pushed hardware sales to their strongest July numbers in more than a decade, a reminder that demand for traditional consoles is still very real.
But the bigger story sits with subscriptions and mobile. Spending on non-mobile subscriptions jumped twenty one percent year-over-year, reaching five hundred million dollars for the month. Year-to-date, subscriptions are up nineteen percent compared to 2024, making them one of the most consistent growth areas in the industry right now. Mobile spending also grew seven percent, with hits like Free Fire showing just how powerful flexible access models continue to be.
These gains tie directly into how services are changing. Microsoft recently began testing Xbox Cloud Gaming for Game Pass Core and Standard subscribers, extending cloud features beyond the Ultimate tier for the first time. That move makes the subscription numbers even more meaningful, as more gamers now have cloud access built directly into their plans. It’s part of a bigger shift toward libraries and services that can be used across devices instead of being locked to a single console.
Meanwhile, console content spending slipped nine percent year-over-year, showing how habits are shifting. Hardware like Switch 2 can still grab headlines, but the real momentum is with services that focus on choice, flexibility, and cloud-enabled play. If July is any indication, the U.S. market’s future is being shaped more and more by subscriptions that bridge the gap between traditional ownership and play-anywhere access.
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