EA Sports College Football 25 was July 2024’s top-selling U.S. game and Circana called it the primary driver of console content and hardware growth. That does not mean it caused every part of the market’s rise: U.S. spending on games, hardware and accessories reached $4.773 billion, up 10% from July 2023, with growth across all three categories.
What “all gaming sales” means in this report
The figures cover U.S. consumer spending in July 2024, not sales worldwide or a current snapshot. Circana measured $4.773 billion in total spending across video-game content, hardware and accessories, compared with $4.349 billion in July 2023. The total was up 10% year over year.
| U.S. spending category | July 2024 | July 2023 | Year-over-year change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total video-game spending | $4.773 billion | $4.349 billion | Up 10% |
| Content | $4.263 billion | $3.880 billion | Up 10% |
| Hardware | $326 million | $292 million | Up 12% |
| Accessories | $184 million | $177 million | Up 4% |
These are category spending totals, not unit counts. Circana’s content measure includes physical and digital full games, downloadable content and microtransactions, and subscription consumer spending across console, cloud, mobile, portable, PC and virtual reality. Mobile spending in the measure was provided by Sensor Tower. GamesBeat’s report reproducing Circana’s July figures provides the category definitions and comparisons.
Where College Football 25 fits
Circana ranked EA Sports College Football 25 first among U.S. games in July 2024 and first for year-to-date game sales through July. The EA Sports MVP Bundle—which included College Football 25 Deluxe Edition and Madden NFL 25 Deluxe Edition—ranked second for July and fifth year to date. These are dollar-sales rankings; they should not be read as copies sold.
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- CampusIQ – Immerse yourself in authentic, fast-paced, college football gameplay with CampusIQ.
- Homefield Advantage – Game-altering homefield advantages rattle your rivals in college football’s toughest places to play. Test your squad’s road game composure and confidence levels as you play through distractions like screen shaking, missing pre-play icons, and moving play art.
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Circana executive producer Mat Piscatella said the game was the “primary driver of both content and hardware growth on console platforms.” That attribution is specifically about console growth. It is not evidence that the title alone caused the increases in mobile spending, accessories, or every other market segment.
Console spending rose unevenly
July’s hardware spending changes differed by platform. Circana reported dollar-spending growth for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series, while Nintendo Switch spending fell. The figures do not establish how many consoles were sold.
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- Homefield Advantage – Game-altering homefield advantages rattle your rivals in college football’s toughest places to play. Test your squad’s road game composure and confidence levels as you play through distractions like screen shaking, missing pre-play icons, and moving play art.
- Iconic Atmospheres – From The Big House to the Swamp, experience the decibel-shaking soundscape of college football. Feel like you're inside the stadium, alongside all the iconic rituals and traditions that make you feel right at home.
- Wear & Tear – Manage your players’ health with the new Wear & Tear system. Limit fatigue, assess the risk of injury, and use strategic substitutions to keep your players at their best when it counts the most.
| Platform | Year-over-year hardware spending change, July 2024 |
|---|---|
| PlayStation 5 | Up 25% |
| Xbox Series | Up 48% |
| Nintendo Switch | Down 44% |
College Football 25 was available for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The platform comparison offers context for Circana’s console-growth attribution, but does not establish how much of either system’s spending change came from the game. Circana’s category report, as reproduced by GamesBeat, describes the first hardware-category growth month of 2024 to that point.
What the player count does—and does not—show
Electronic Arts reported 5 million unique players during College Football 25’s first week, plus more than 500,000 additional players through the EA Play trial. These are EA-reported player counts, not paid copies sold or standalone revenue. EA’s July 30, 2024 earnings release called the launch record-breaking but did not provide a game-specific unit-sales figure in the cited information.
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- Standard Edition for PlayStation 5 (disc) includes the full EA SPORTS College Football 27 game.
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How to read the headline accurately
The defensible takeaway is that College Football 25 led U.S. game dollar-sales rankings in July 2024 and Circana identified it as the primary driver of console content and hardware growth. Meanwhile, the wider U.S. market rose 10% across content, hardware and accessories. The market totals show that growth occurred in multiple categories; they do not prove that one game caused all of it.
This is a historical launch-period story. Circana’s monthly and year-to-date rankings page is dated September 1, 2026, and lists College Football 27 among July 2026’s top games; that later cycle does not change what the July 2024 figures measure.
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- Standard Edition for Xbox Series X (disc) includes the full EA SPORTS College Football 27 game. Not compatible with Xbox One.
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- ROAD TO GLORY – Build your player, explore new positions, earn NIL deals, chase the Heisman, and raise your Legacy Score.
- MASCOT MASHUP – Play as your favorite mascot, collect 120+ icons, and compete in wild 11-on-11 matchups full of school spirit.
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