Monster Hunter Wilds smashes February sales, numbers still in the red | Circana

Monster Hunter Wilds was February’s big success on the sales charts, though by no means the only one, according to industry-tracking firm Circana. Several games launched this month have broken onto the U.S. bestsellers chart, with Monster Hunter Wilds taking the top spot. However, it wasn’t enough to offset the continued decline of sales on the sales charts, which continue to be in the negatives — particularly the hardware sales.

“February video game hardware spending fell by 25% when compared to a year ago, to $256 million. This is the lowest February total for video game hardware spending since the $184 million reached in February 2020,” said Mat Piscatella, Circana’s executive producer for games reports. “After each platform’s first 52 months in market, PlayStation 5 unit sales exceed PlayStation 4’s sales pace by 7%, while Xbox Series now trails Xbox One by 19%.”

It’s worth noting that the decline in hardware sales is from an already steep decline, as February 2024 sales were already down 30/% from February 2023. Accessories sales, which have operated sometimes inversely to hardware, have also been in decline, with Circana noting that gamepad sales have declined 17% year-to-date, and headset spending is down 25% for the same period.

Monster Hunter Wilds was one of six new games to jump onto the bestsellers list, but that might reflect player respond to the generally tepid market of January. This multitude of big — and successful — game launches is not enough to offset the general downward trend of market sales, which have been on the decline for some time.

Circana February 2025: Top 20 best-selling games in the U.S.

After January’s rather tepid sales, which didn’t really see many new games on the sales charts, February’s charts are an explosion of new titles. One thing worth noting is that, for the first time in a while, there are no Nintendo games on the sales chart. Donkey Kong Country Returns was the only new game to grace the January charts, but it’s quickly been shoved out of the list by February’s multitude of new titles.

Monster Hunter Wilds is the obvious winner, being top of the list. According to Piscatella, Monster Hunter Wilds was the top seller on PlayStation, Xbox and Steam, and Steam accounted for over half of the game’s total dollar sales. This dovetails with Capcom’s reveal that the game had sold more than eight million copies in just three days on the market.

February’s other big winners

Aside from Monster Hunter wilds, Warhorse’s RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance II was also a big hit on the market, with Piscatella noting that the launch month dollar sales for the sequel were more than five times higher than those of the original when it launched in 2018. It’s one of four games that have collectively shoved Call of Duty, traditionally always a lead contender, down to fifth place, the others being Firaxis’s Civilization VII and PGA Tour 2K25.

Obsidian’s Avowed and RGG Studio’s Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii appear slightly further down the list, rounding out the stable of February titles to make it big this month. If nothing else, it proves the market has an appetite for multiple expansive games at once, as many of the games fall into the “open-world” and “RPG” categories.

Circana February 2025: 20 best-selling games of 2024 so far

February is not much time to showcase any changes in the market from January, but the new launches of the month have proven to be as much of a disruption here as they were in the monthly chart. All six made it to the best-selling year-to-date chart, with Monster Hunter Wilds coming out on top. As with that list, several games pushed Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 out of the top slot, though it’s likely it’ll climb back up in the coming months.