My youngest decided to play freshman football. Not only does this meet with my approval, but it also finally led to something I’ve been begging and pleading my kids to do for years — play Madden NFL or EA Sports College football with me.
The kid’s studying up on the controls. This weekend, we’ll see if the old man still has it.
(Narrator: We bet he doesn’t.)
UFC 6 landed atop June’s best-selling games list, the first time the EA Sports series has ever led the monthly charts. EA Sports
It was a standout month for EA Sports’ UFC 6, which led the U.S. video game sales charts for June, the first time it’s debuted as a month’s bestselling game. It launched June 19 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, and it was the bestselling PS5 game in June as well.
The rankings performance is thanks to key change in launch strategy from EA Sports. In previous years, UFC came out in August or later, when sports games with higher profiles (think Madden NFL) or the fall flood of blockbusters crowd it out. For context, 2023’s UFC 5 ranked eighth in October 2023.
“It’s ranked third a few times over the years, most recently with UFC 4 ranking third in August 2020 behind Madden NFL 21 and PGA Tour 2K21,” said Mat Piscatella, Circana’s executive director/games. “Launching in a quieter June month certainly helped this time.”
June is often a soft month for sports game sales, as players are waiting for the big fall releases. The other sports games in the top 10 featured Forza Horizon 6 at No. 7 after coming in second during its May launch month. MLB: The Show 26 dropped from sixth to eighth, and NBA 2K25 is showing it still has some life in it by finishing 10th.
Taking a broader view of the industry, June’s game sales fell 12% year over year. The one segment performing well? Subscriptions (PlayStation Plus, Xbox Game Pass, battle and season passes, MMO subs, etc.). These were up 7% YoY in June. Generally speaking, this is across the board — we’re not seeing a spike in, say, Game Pass subscriptions over others. This is coming, though, as the major consoles are raising prices on their monthly subscription services.
“And really, it’s a price thing as much as anything. Sub prices for the big console services keep increasing while subscriber counts are fairly stable,” Piscatella said. “We are seeing other areas of subs [such as PC MMOs] continue trucking along as well.”
The July sales chart should prove a bit more insightful for how rising prices for hardware and other services are affecting game sales — it was the launch month for EA Sports College Football 27.
Spurs C Victor Wembanyama (l), Fever G Caitlin Clark (c) and Bulls legend Derrick Rose share a few things in common, such as being Rookie of the Year winners. 2K Sports
The selection of cover athletes for video games intrigues me. Some feel obvious (such as MLB: The Show 26’s Aaron Judge), while others just feel weird (I still can’t believe Peyton Hillis was on Madden 12! We have Browns fans to thank for that).
The tripartite cover for NBA 2K27 — Spurs C Victor Wembanyama, Fever G Caitlin Clark and Bulls legend Derrick Rose — got me curious. Sure, Wemby and Clark made sense, but at first glance, how does Rose fit? Then it became clear that all three had something in common: major rookie success. Wembanyama, Clark and Rose, all No. 1 picks in their respective drafts, secured Rookie of the Year honors.
Was this common career thread why 2K Sports put them together on the cover?
“We never choose cover athletes based on accolades alone. The fact that all three are generation-defining players who were selected No. 1 overall and named Rookie of the Year was not the reason we brought them together. But it reinforced what we already knew: Each of them has a rare passion for the game and made an immediate, lasting impact on basketball,” said NBA 2K General Manager Zak Armitage.
This wasn’t the first time a shared theme stood out from an NBA 2K cover. One example: NBA 2K22’s 75th Anniversary Edition featured Lakers C Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Mavericks F Dirk Nowitzki and then-Nets F Kevin Durant.
“Some cover classes have featured more pronounced connections,” Amritage said, noting these three iconic scorers on special-edition cover (all three covers that year featured the best artwork in the history of NBA 2K, I maintain. See below).
When putting multiple athletes on a cover, especially from more than one era, it can be difficult for any common threads to emerge beside the obvious “these are star players.” 2K Sports had been working with Wembanyama for years to get him on a cover.
The NBA 2K22 75th Anniversary Edition cover looks like a painting you’d see someplace like the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. 2K Sports