Helldivers 2 dominates sales — for democracy! | Circana February 2024

Helldivers 2 has rocketed up to the top of the sales charts for February, according to industry-tracking firm Circana. Arrowhead’s phenom not only topped the bestseller charts for the month, but also the year-to-date. Granted, that’s only two months, but it takes a special title to dethrone Call of Duty. However, while video game sales were decent overall, hardware sales plummeted in February — though this doesn’t come as a total surprise.

“February video game hardware spending declined 30% when compared to a year ago, to $349 million,” said Mat Piscatella, Circana’s executive producer for games reports. “All console platforms were down a minimum of 19% compared to a year ago.” In February 2023, hardware sales went up by 68%, meaning that the drop this year is possibly less of a decline and more of a correction.

That said, accessory sales are up by 25% year-over-year, with the PlayStation Portal being the best-selling accessory for the month. Piscatella also reports data from Circana’s mobile partner, Sensor Tower, which shows that Monopoly Go have lifted mobile gaming spend by 17% from last year.

“PlayStation 5 led the February and year-to-date hardware market in both unit and dollar sales,” said Piscatella. “Nintendo Switch finished 2nd in unit sales, while Xbox Series placed 2nd in dollars across both time periods.”

Circana February 2024: Top 20 best-selling games in the U.S.

The success of Helldivers 2 is the most obvious takeaway from February’s sales chart, thanks in part to the game going viral in the games community. Piscatella noted that 60% of Helldivers 2’s sales came from Steam this month, and that it’s the “7th highest total ever achieved by a Sony published title in the U.S.”

Similarly, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and its twin pack have made it onto the list, as have other new titles like Ubisoft’s infamously delayed Skull & Bones, and Nintendo’s Mario vs. Donkey Kong remake. There aren’t many games that have made it onto the list from a low placement — the closest would be Rainbow Six: Siege, which is currently undergoing a resurgence, likely in part thanks to the finals of the Six Invitational event.

Helldivers reigned supreme in playtime on Steam, but not on Playstation

In Circana’s player engagement tracker charts, Helldivers 2 had the most monthly active users (MAU) on Steam in February, beating out former favorite Palworld. However, it was not as high up the PlayStation chart, taking seventh place after the usual suspects like Fortnite, Roblox and Call of Duty HQ. It is, however, outperforming other favorites such as Apex Legend and Minecraft.

A few games have managed to jump up the MAU list, such as The Last Epoch on Steam, which moves from spot 113 to seventh place thanks to its early access launch. Similarly, Dead Island 2 jumped from spot 121 on Xbox to eighth place thanks to the game’s launch on Xbox Game Pass.

Circana February 2024: 20 best-selling games of 2022 so far

Not only did Helldivers 2 top the best-selling charts for the month, but it also is the best-selling game of the year so far. Other titles that have made the jump to the YTD list include Final Fantasy VII Rebirth and Skull & Bones.