Regardless of some controversy main as much as its launch, Murderer’s Creed Shadows managed to rise to the highest of March gross sales charts within the U.S., in accordance with industry-tracking agency Circana. It was one in all a number of releases that month to make it onto the charts, with Shadows additionally turning into the second-best-selling sport of the 12 months. Nevertheless, gross sales on the whole are nonetheless as a lot within the crimson as they have been final month, with {hardware} gross sales being down by 25% simply as they have been in February.
| March 2025 Greenback Gross sales, Tens of millions | March 2024 | March 2025 | Change |
| Whole Video Recreation Gross sales | $4,985 | $4,689 | -6% |
| Video Recreation Content material (Bodily & Digital Full Recreation, DLC/MTX and Subscription client spending throughout Console, Cloud, Cellular*, Moveable, PC and VR platforms) | $4,336 | $4,164 | -4% |
| Video Recreation {Hardware} | $382 | $286 | -25% |
| Video Recreation Equipment | $267 | $238 | -11% |
“March online game {hardware} spending fell 25% when in comparison with a 12 months in the past, to $286 million. That is the bottom March {hardware} spending whole since 2019 ($279M),” mentioned Mat Piscatella, Circana’s govt producer for video games studies. “Digital solely SKUs have accounted for 75% of Xbox Sequence and 50% of PlayStation 5 {hardware} models offered year-to-date.”
As with February 2025, the March 2025 {hardware} gross sales are following on March 2024’s decline of -32%. It price noting that {hardware} gross sales for the 2023 interval have been up by a major share (68% in February 2023, 10% in March 2023). The March 2024 {hardware} decline might be corrective following the 2023 spike, however 2025’s continued decline appears to be extra indicative of how the present console technology is getting old.
| 12 months-to-Date 2025 Greenback Gross sales, Tens of millions | 2024 YTD | 2025 YTD | Change |
| Whole Video Recreation Gross sales | $15,102 | $13,709 | -9% |
| Video Recreation Content material (Bodily & Digital Full Recreation, DLC/MTX and Subscription client spending throughout Console, Cloud, Cellular*, Moveable, PC and VR platforms) | $13,235 | $12,310 | -7% |
| Video Recreation {Hardware} | $1,094 | $747 | -32% |
| Video Recreation Equipment | $772 | $652 | -16% |
Regardless of the breakthrough success of a number of of March’s titles, total gross sales proceed to drop. Piscatella famous, “The one segments displaying development in comparison with a 12 months in the past have been non-mobile subscription (+11%) and digital premium downloads on console (+12%). Cellular content material spending within the month completed 6% behind March 2024 (cellular supply: Sensor Tower).”
Circana March 2025: Prime 20 best-selling video games within the U.S.
| Rank | Final Month Rank | Title | Writer |
| 1 | NEW | Murderer’s Creed: Shadows | Ubisoft |
| 2 | NEW | MLB: The Present 25^^ | A number of Video Recreation Producers |
| 3 | 1 | Monster Hunter Wilds | Capcom USA |
| 4 | NEW | WWE 2K25 | Take-Two Interactive (Corp) |
| 5 | NEW | Break up Fiction | Digital Arts |
| 6 | 6 | Name of Obligation: Black Ops 6 | Microsoft (Corp) |
| 7 | 4 | PGA Tour 2K25 | Take-Two Interactive (Corp) |
| 8 | 5 | NBA 2K25 | Take-Two Interactive (Corp) |
| 9 | NEW | Bleach: Rebirth of Souls | Bandai Namco Leisure |
| 10 | 2 | Kingdom Come: Deliverance II | Plaion |
| 11 | 11 | Minecraft^ | A number of Video Recreation Producers |
| 12 | 9 | Grand Theft Auto V | Take-Two Interactive (Corp) |
| 13 | 12 | EA Sports activities FC 25 | Digital Arts |
| 14 | 14 | Purple Lifeless Redemption II | Take-Two Interactive (Corp) |
| 15 | 10 | Madden NFL 25 | Digital Arts |
| 16 | 18 | Elden Ring | Bandai Namco Leisure |
| 17 | NEW | Xenoblade Chronicles X* | Nintendo |
| 18 | NEW | Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune & Dunan Unification Wars | Konami Digital Ent. |
| 19 | 13 | Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 | Sony (Corp) |
| 20 | 16 | EA Sports activities Faculty Soccer 25 | Digital Arts |
^Digital gross sales on Nintendo platforms not included
^^Digital gross sales on Nintendo and Xbox platforms not included
A grand whole of seven new video games have made it onto the March listing, the very best variety of 2025. These video games symbolize a comparatively big selection of genres, from the action-adventure titles like Murderer’s Creed Shadows and Hazelight’s newest title, Break up Fiction; to sports activities titles like WWE 2K25 and MLB: The Present 25. Bleach: Rebirth of Souls is a combating sport title, whereas the remaster of the primary two Suikoden video games made it to the 18th place.
One sport significantly worthy of word on this listing is Xenoblade Chronicles X, the remaster of which was launched in March because the Definitive Version. The sport initially launched on the unpopular Wii U, so the remaster is reaching a a lot bigger viewers. Nintendo doesn’t report digital gross sales to Circana, so its inclusion on the gross sales charts relies solely off of bodily gross sales. Given this truth, it’s spectacular {that a} remaster of a ten-year-old action-RPG made it so excessive on the listing, and will have positioned even increased if digital gross sales have been taken into consideration.
Murderer’s Creed Shadows: Will or not it’s sufficient for Ubisoft?
The newest Murderer’s Creed sport, Shadows, has been the topic of no small quantity of discourse previous to its launch. One of many largest speaking factors was about how the sport’s gross sales would have an effect on Ubisoft. The corporate admitted that its 2024 title Star Wars: Outlaws had “softer than anticipated” gross sales, and the corporate laid off 185 individuals earlier this 12 months. It additionally reported that it was exploring “strategic choices” on the subject of the corporate’s future.
All of which is to say that Ubisoft can be protecting a detailed eye on Shadows’ gross sales. It just lately spun out a brand new core division of its gaming enterprise that focuses on Murderer’s Creed, Far Cry and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six manufacturers. Tencent invested $1.25 billion on this division final month. Shadows promoting significantly properly couldn’t solely assist with Ubisoft’s monetary state of affairs, however may additionally exhibit the franchise’s long-term endurance. However it stays to be seen if the gross sales will really meet Ubisoft’s expectations.
Circana March 2025: 20 best-selling video games of 2024 to date
| Rank | Final Month Rank | Title | Writer |
| 1 | 1 | Monster Hunter: Wilds | Capcom USA |
| 2 | NEW | Murderer’s Creed: Shadows | Ubisoft |
| 3 | 2 | Kingdom Come: Deliverance II | Plaion |
| 4 | NEW | MLB: The Present 25^^ | A number of Video Recreation Producers |
| 5 | 4 | Name of Obligation: Black Ops 6 | Microsoft (Corp) |
| 6 | NEW | WWE 2K25 | Take-Two Interactive (Corp) |
| 7 | 3 | Civilization VII [Sid Meier’s] | Take-Two Interactive (Corp) |
| 8 | 5 | NBA 2K25 | Take-Two Interactive (Corp) |
| 9 | 6 | PGA Tour 2K25 | Take-Two Interactive (Corp) |
| 10 | NEW | Break up Fiction | Digital Arts |
| 11 | 8 | Grand Theft Auto V | Take-Two Interactive (Corp) |
| 12 | 10 | Minecraft^ | A number of Video Recreation Producers |
| 13 | 7 | Madden NFL 25 | Digital Arts |
| 14 | 9 | EA Sports activities FC 25 | Digital Arts |
| 15 | 11 | Purple Lifeless Redemption II | Take-Two Interactive (Corp) |
| 16 | 12 | Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 | Sony (Corp) |
| 17 | 14 | EA Sports activities Faculty Soccer 25 | Digital Arts |
| 18 | 16 | Hogwarts Legacy | Warner Bros. Video games |
| 19 | 20 | Elden Ring | Bandai Namco Leisure |
| 20 | 13 | Avowed | Microsoft (Corp) |
^^Digital gross sales on Nintendo and Xbox platforms not included
As said above, Murderer’s Creed Shadows soared to 2nd place on the year-to-date listing. It’s not the one March title to make it to this listing, particularly as 2025’s titles begin to displace final 12 months’s titles. Hazelight’s Break up Fiction took tenth place, whereas sports activities titles MLB: The Present 25 and WWE 2K25 took 4th and sixth place, respectively. All of those video games have the attraction of earlier video games backing them up — franchise recognition within the case of WWE 2K, MLB: The Present and Murderer’s Creed, and critically acclaimed earlier video games from the studio within the case of Break up Fiction.