US gamers spend big on Game Pass and PlayStation Plus, subscriptions made $3.6 billion in 2025

Gamers in the US are spending more on subscriptions in 2025 than last year, new data from Circana has revealed.

2

Now that games cost $70 or more, the value proposition of subscriptions like Game Pass and PlayStation Plus start to make more sense. Consumers are spending more on subscriptions, at least in the United States, where these services have generated $3.6 billion in 2025 so far.

According to the latest figures from Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, this year's cumulative subscription revenues are up 19% year-over-year.

"Year-to-date spending on non-mobile video game subscription services is now 19% higher than a year ago, at $3.6B," Piscatella said on Bluesky.

In July, US gamers spent $500 million on video game subscriptions:

"July video game content spending increased 4% when compared to a year ago, to $4.5B. The increase was driven by growth in the mobile (+7% in July vs a year ago, to $2.3B) and non-mobile subscription (+21%, $0.5B) segments, which offset a 9% drop in spending on Console."

There was no info on breakout data, e.g. which subscription generated the most revenue.

Subscriptions are on the rise for Microsoft and Sony, with the two major players reflecting this expansion in their respective earnings reports.

Just a bit ago, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella confirmed that Xbox Game Pass generated nearly $5 billion in revenue last fiscal year, and Sony just recorded nearly $1.2 billion revenue from Network Services--which includes PlayStation Plus subscription earnings--in Q1'25 alone.

It's clear that both services are critical parts of the PlayStation and Xbox ecosystem, and more fragmentation could take place to increase value and profits.