Diablo 4 was the best-selling game in June 2023 in the U.S., according to new data.
Circana’s U.S. video game market results for June 2023 reveals Blizzard’s action role-playing game is the third best-selling game of 2023 so far, behind only Hogwarts Legacy and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. That stat doesn’t come as a surprise: Diablo 4 is Blizzard’s fastest-selling game of all time with over 10 million players. The launch of Diablo 4 even propelled Blizzard’s financials to record levels.
Final Fantasy 16, meanwhile, was the second best-selling game of June in the U.S. Its sales have become something of a battleground after Square Enix announced the PlayStation 5 exclusive sold three million copies during launch week. Square Enix told IGN these launch sales were “extremely strong”, but sources speaking to IGN said sales had slowed considerably since then.
Capcom’s Street Fighter 6 was the third best-selling game of June in the U.S. and is the 10th best-selling game of 2023 so far. Mat Piscatella, executive director of video games for Circana, said Street Fighter 6’s launch month sales more than doubled those of Street Fighter 5, which came out in February 2016. In fact, Street Fighter 6 enjoyed the highest launch month dollar sales for a fighting game since the April 2019 launch of Mortal Kombat 11.
Street Fighter 6 sold two million copies in just over a month which, in a recent note to investors, Capcom said was “generally progressing in line with our expectations”, adding it hoped positive word of mouth would fuel follow-up success. It’s aiming for more than 10 million sales over the course of the game’s lifetime.
Overall, strong sales of new releases and continued PlayStation 5 hardware strength led the U.S. video game market to grow 9% year-on-year. Piscatella said double-digit percentage growth in PS5 spending offset declines in spending on Xbox Series and Switch platforms, which tallies with comments coming out of Microsoft and Nintendo respectively about the current performance of their consoles.
PS5, then, is enjoying an incredible time in the U.S. Not only was it the best-selling console in both unit and dollar sales during June 2023, but consumer spending on PlayStation hardware reached its highest June total since 2008, while unit sales were the highest achieved since June 2010. PS5 continues to lead the 2023 hardware market across both units and dollars. Sony recently announced PS5 had sold 40 million units since it went on sale in November 2020, tracking slightly behind PlayStation 4.
Overall consumer spending on video game content, hardware and accessories reached $4.7 billion in June 2023, the second-highest spending ever achieved in a June month, trailing only June 2021’s $4.8 billion. First half spending totaled $26.6 billion, 2% ahead of a year ago.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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