PS5 Best-Selling Console in the US in February, Hogwarts Legacy Debuts in 1st - Sales
by William D'Angelo , posted on 29 March 2023 / 4,565 Views
The PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console in the US in February 2023 in terms of units sold and dollar sales, according to figures from Circana (formerly The NPD Group). NPD includes the dates for the four week period of January 29 to February 25.
PlayStation 5 sales grew enough to drive February hardware sales to its highest since the $534 million total in 2009.
The Nintendo Switch was the second best-selling console in February in terms of units sold, while the Xbox Series X|S came in third place. In terms of dollar sales, the Xbox Series X|S was in second place, while the Nintendo was in third place.
Overall spending on video games in February was up six percent year-on-year from $4.32 billion to $4.60 billion. Spending on video game content increased one percent from $3.84 billion to $3.89 billion, while video game hardware sales jumped 68 percent from $295 million to $495.
Overall spending on video games in 2023 year-to-date is flat at $8.95. Spending on video game content decreased two percent from $7.84 billion to $7.68 billion, while video game hardware sales is up 29 percent from $687 million to $888.
"Consumer spending on video game content, hardware and accessories totaled $4.6B, 6% higher when compared to a year ago," said Circana Executive Director and Video Game Industry Analyst Mat Piscatella. "Video game hardware (+68%), accessories (+13%) and content (+1%) all grew compared to February 2022.
"February 2023 marks the highest monthly year-on-year percentage growth for the U.S. video game market since October 2021, when spending increased 13% compared to October 2020."
Piscatella added, "Video game hardware spending increased 68% when compared to February 2021, to $495 million. This is the highest video game hardware spend for a February month since the $534 million total reached in 2009.
"Growth in PlayStation 5 hardware spending drove the February hardware market gains. PS5 was the best-selling hardware platform in units and dollars over both the February 2023 and 2023 YTD time periods. YTD HW spending is now 29% higher when compared to the same period in 2022."
Hogwarts Legacy debuted at the top of the software charts (ranked by dollar sales) and is already the best-selling game of 2023. It was also the best-selling game on the PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam charts.
There were seven new releases in the top 10: Wild Hearts debuted in eighth, Like a Dragon: Ishin! debuted in ninth, Octopath Traveler II debuted in 10th, Kirby's Return to Dream Land debuted in 15th place, Company of Heroes 3 debuted in 16th place, and Theatrythm: Final Bar Line debuted in 20th place.
The Last of Us: Part I climbed from 11th to sixth place, while The Last of Us: Part II jumped up from 41st to 18th place. This was driven by the popularity of the The Last of Us HBO TV series.
Here are the top 20 best-selling games in terms of dollars for February 2023:
Here are the top 20 best-selling games in 2023 year-to-date:
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
