Xbox And EA Won't Share Digital Sales Data With Circana Anymore

Key Points:

• Circana, a key provider of U.S. video game market data, has lost two major digital data sources as Xbox and EA have stopped sharing their sales data with the company as of July 2026.
• Xbox's departure is particularly impactful, removing transparency on digital sales of Xbox first-party games, including major franchises like Call of Duty, and complicating sales tracking for other publishers not sharing data.
• The loss of digital sales data from these major players means Circana's software sales charts now rely more on estimates and guesswork, reducing the accuracy and reliability of industry insights.
• This trend toward reduced data sharing is expected to worsen with the industry's shift away from physical disc sales, as PlayStation plans to end disc production by 2028 and Xbox is likely to follow, increasing dependence on platform owners' willingness to share data.
• The erosion of transparency limits the ability of analysts, journalists, and players to understand true market performance, potentially enabling companies to control narratives, obscure sales figures, and justify controversial business decisions without accountability.