Nintendo ended 2025 on top of the American market. Per Circana's December 2025 report, the Nintendo Switch 2 was the month's best-selling hardware platform in the US, tracking roughly 35% ahead of the PS4's sales pace at the same point in its lifecycle — a benchmark that matters, because the PS4 went on to become one of the best-selling consoles ever made.
The December numbers
US consumers spent $7.765 billion on games and gaming products in December, up 3% year over year from $7.57 billion, per Circana's data as summarized in GameDev Reports' analysis. Content spending grew 3% to $5.93 billion, and hardware spending rose 6% — an increase driven substantially by Switch 2 availability finally normalizing after its supply-constrained launch year. The PS5 finished December as the number-two hardware platform.
Black Ops 7 takes the software crown
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was December's best-selling game, per Circana's chart, ahead of NBA 2K26 and Battlefield 6 — a familiar podium for a holiday month. The more interesting debut was Metroid Prime 4: Beyond entering at number seven, a strong result for a single-platform Nintendo title in a chart dominated by multiplatform shooters and sports releases.
Related stories: US Game Spending Jumped 12% in March as Hardware Sales Surged 69% · Nintendo Shipped 19.86 Million Switch 2 Consoles in Its Launch Year.
What full-year 2025 looked like
The full-year US market reached $60.7 billion, up 1.4% versus 2024 per Circana's annual figures. That single-digit growth conceals the year's real story: a hardware cycle change. The Switch 2's June launch reset Nintendo's commercial trajectory mid-year, and by December the platform was outselling everything in the US despite carrying a smaller installed base than its rivals.
What to watch in 2026
The 35%-ahead-of-PS4 pace is the number to track through 2026, because lifecycle comparisons age quickly — Switch 2's test is whether it can hold that margin once its own launch-window buyers are spent. February brings the first post-holiday Circana report, and the software question is whether third-party Switch 2 ports can crack a top ten that 2025 reserved for shooters and sports. One month does not make a cycle, but December gave Nintendo the strongest possible closing argument for its launch year — a holiday won at retail, with the content chart's top three proving the market's spending appetite held firm through the biggest sales month of the year.