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Monthly

US hardware revenue reaches $384m driven by Switch 2 sales | US Monthly Charts

by admin August 30, 2025

US hardware revenue jumped 21% to $384 million in July, driven by sales of the Nintendo Switch 2.

That’s according to data from Circana, which noted that this increase in hardware spending was the highest in a July month since 2008, when revenue reached $441 million.

The Switch 2 was the best-selling hardware for the month and year-to-date, and has surpassed two million units in the US since its June 5 launch. Unit sales of the Switch 2 are also 75% ahead of those set by the original Switch.

Looking at the charts for July, the Top Five consisted of four new titles. Electronic Arts took the top two spots with EA Sports College Football 26 and EA Sports MVP Bundle 2025, while Donkey Kong Bananza ranked in third.

The latest Switch 2 sat in the same spot as Mario Kart World’s debut in June, and was the best-selling title on Nintendo’s platform-specific charts. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4, developed by Iron Galaxy and published by Activision, came in at No.4.

The latest remake in the Tony Hawk franchise was also in the Top Four best-selling games of the month across the individual charts for console and PC.

Obsidian Entertainment and Eidos-Montréal’s Grounded 2 also debuted in the Top 20 at No.8, while Death Stranding 2: On the Beach dropped from No.2 to No.12 and Elden Ring: Nightreign fell from the top spot to No.16.

Elsewhere, video game content spending was up 4% to $4.5 billion. According to Circana, this result was driven by a 7% growth in mobile to $2.3 billion and non-mobile subscriptions, which were up 21% to $0.5 billion. Growth from these segments offset a 9% drop in console spending.

As for consumer spending, this rose by 5% to $5.05 billion compared to $4.1 billion during the same period last year.

Looking at mobile content, the Top Five consisted of Monopoly Go, Royal Match, Last War: Survival, Candy Crush Saga, and Whiteout Survival.

Most notably, Garena’s Free Fire moved up seven places to No.6, which has been “skyrocketing US revenue since last year” according to Sensor Tower’s Sam Aune.

Aune also described July as an “explosive month” for mobile, “with 7% of consumer spend growth over July 2024”.

Here are the top 20 selling games from the period July 6 to August 2, 2025, data courtesy of Circana:

Rank
Last month rank
Title

1
NEW
EA Sports College Football

2
NEW
EA Sports MVP Bundle (2025)

3
NEW
Donkey Kong Bananza*

4
NEW
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4

5
4
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

6
8
Minecraft^

7
6
Forza Horizon 5

8
NEW
Grounded 2

9
15
Red Dead Redemption 2

10
9
Grand Theft Auto 5

11
7
MLB: The Show 25^^

12
2
Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

13
19
WWE 2K25

14
13
Elden Ring

15
14
NBA 2K25

16
1
Elden Ring: Nightreign

17
11
Split Fiction

18
12
EA Sports FC 25

19
21
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

20
20
F1 25

*Digital sales not included for marked titles

^Digital sales on Nintendo platforms not included

^^Digital sales on Nintendo and Xbox platforms not included

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August 30, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Here are our PS Plus Monthly games for September

by admin August 27, 2025

Sony has announced the three monthly games coming to PS Plus in September, available for Premium, Extra, and Essential subscribers.

The three games, available from 2nd September, are:

Psychonauts 2
Stardew Valley
Viewfinder

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It’s a pretty strong line up. Pixelated farming sim Stardew Valley first debuted almost a decade ago, and has since gone from strength to strength. In January of this year, the game’s creator Eric Barone revealed that, as of December last year, Stardew Valley had sold in excess of 41m copies across platforms.

Psychonauts 2, meanwhile, comes from the always creative minds at Double Fine, and was met with overwhelming praise on its release. Edwin Evans-Thirlwell called it “witty, eccentric and imaginative” in Eurogamer’s own review, noting it had a “more developed understanding of mental health” than its predecessor.

Lastly, we have Viewfinder, which is a puzzle game that asks players to “challenge perception, redefine reality, and reshape the world” all with an instant camera. Chris Donlan called it all “magical” in Eurogamer’s Viewfinder feature.

Further details can be found via the PlayStation blog.

For more on Sony’s subscription service, check out our full PS Plus guide for all of the games available.

This is a news-in-brief story. This is part of our vision to bring you all the big news as part of a daily live report.

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August 27, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Apple TV Plus Raises Price on Monthly Plan

by admin August 22, 2025

Watching Ted Lasso is about to be more expensive as Apple TV Plus is increasing its monthly price again for US and international customers. The company announced Thursday that the streaming service will now cost $13 a month in the US, effective today. The last time Apple raised its streaming subscription price was in 2023, bumping it up to $10 per month.

If you’re an existing subscriber, you can expect to see the price change 30 days after your next renewal date. Apple said the cost of its annual Apple TV Plus plan will stay the same, as will the price for Apple One.

Early this year, the streaming app rolled out on Android mobile devices, extending it beyond Apple’s interconnected ecosystem. Apple TV Plus offers its own library of originals like Severance, Slow Horses and Wolfs, and access to live sports such as Major League Soccer and Friday Night Baseball.

Competitors like Netflix and Peacock also increased their subscription prices this year, a trend we’ve seen in streaming TV in the past three years. With this $3 price hike, the ad-free Apple TV Plus costs the same as Paramount Plus’ premium plan, but slightly less than rival, ad-free versions of Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu and Peacock.

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August 22, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Volkswagen gates a new vehicle’s full horsepower behind monthly subscription

by admin August 17, 2025

Volkswagen’s ID3 Pro and Pro S vehicles are some of their latest car models, and, while they look like a typical car the iconic vehicle manufacturer would deliver, there’s a secret under the hood.

For both of these models, the maximum horsepower is listed at 228bhp (brake horsepower). However, driving the vehicle normally, you can only push it to 201bhp. In order to get that extra power out of it, you’ll have to pay extra.

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At around $20 a month, $200 a year, or a lump sum payment of roughly $760 dollars, you can get that full horsepower.

And, while it’s difficult to imagine why the ID3 models are limiting themselves and forcing a paywall for users who want to put the pedal to the metal, Volkswagen explained their reasoning behind the change.

Volkswagen explains horsepower subscription service

The way that the sub works for their ID3 vehicles is incredibly bizarre. Rather than it being tied to any one driver, the sub is tied to the vehicle. So, for instance, if someone were to pay the full price of buying that power boost for life and they were to sell their ID3 secondhand, whoever got the car next wouldn’t have to pay for it.

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Volkswagen views the service as a way to offer people more power under the hood without having to sell them a new car.

“Offering more power to customers is nothing new – historically many petrol and diesel vehicles have been offered with engines of the same size, but with the possibility of choosing one with more potency. These traditionally are higher up in the product range, with more specification and a higher list price,” reads a statement sourced from Autoexpress UK.

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Volkswagen has released a vehicle that gates its full horsepower behind a paid subscription

Users have to pay a monthly fee of around $20 to drive the car at top speed pic.twitter.com/TMCh3748pb

— Dexerto (@Dexerto) August 17, 2025

“If customers wish to have an even sportier driving experience, they now have an option to do so, within the life of the vehicle, rather than committing from the outset with a higher initial purchase price. The car is presented on the configurator with [201bhp], with the option made very clear to customers.”

And, in all fairness to Volkswagen, it’s pretty rare that the average driver will have to push their car to the limit. However, there’s a great deal of backlash from potential buyers who would have to purchase the vehicle and then have to pay even more to unlock its full potential.

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However, Volkswagen’s business ventures aren’t all this contentious. They’ve started selling sausages and managed to sell more sausages than cars in 2024.

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August 17, 2025 0 comments