The first 2026 data from Circana has landed, revealing how the video game industry fared in January 2026 and the year so far. One takeaway to consider is that software sales are growing, but not by much, and mainly fueled by spending on subscription services in a month that did not have many high-profile new releases.
Circana’s US report said total spending on video game content in January 2026 rose by 3% year-over-year to $4.3 billion. This uptick was driven mainly by subscription spending, which rose by 23% year-over-year. Meanwhile, spending on console games and PC games only rose very modestly, at 2% and 1%, respectively. Additionally, spending on mobile games fell 1% during January 2026.
The Circana report did not single out any specific subscription services, but there are many in play currently. Some of them include Xbox Game Pass, PlayStation Plus, Nintendo Switch Online, Apple Arcade, Nvidia GeForce Now, EA Play, Game Club, Humble Bundle, Prime Gaming, and Ubisoft+, just to name a few.
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