Marvel's Wolverine led US game sales in September despite arriving halfway through the month, according to Circana data reported by Eurogamer and GamesIndustry.biz. Circana analyst Mat Piscatella said the Insomniac action-adventure delivered the highest launch-month dollar sales for a Sony-published game since Helldivers 2, which released in February 2024.
Eurogamer attached a caveat to that comparison: Helldivers 2 launched on PC alongside PlayStation 5 and cost $40 against Wolverine's $70, so it sold considerably more copies to reach a similar figure, while Wolverine is a PS5 exclusive. Wolverine's critical reception was mixed.
Eight of the top ten best-selling games of the month were new releases. Wolverine pushed NBA 2K27 down to No. 2 and outperformed EA Sports FC 27, GamesIndustry.biz reported. Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave and The Blood of Dawnwalker completed the top five, and the month's other debuts included Wardogs, Onimusha: Way of the Sword, Halloween: The Game and Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve.
However, it was NBA 2K27 that ranked second in the month as it surpassed Resident Evil: Requiem to become the best-selling game of 2026 year-to-date.
NBA 2K27 passes Resident Evil Requiem
Second place for the month was enough to move NBA 2K27 ahead of Resident Evil Requiem as the best-selling US game of 2026 so far, GameSpot reported from the same Circana figures. Requiem had held the year-to-date lead since its launch earlier in 2026, when it set records for Capcom's survival-horror series.
GameSpot reported that Requiem remains the fastest-selling game in the franchise, reaching five million copies in its first five days and six million within two weeks. By dollar sales it is among the top five best-selling Resident Evil games in the US, and it is 2026's best-selling physical PS5 game, with Alinea Analytics estimating 1.3 million discs sold to date.
On hardware, PlayStation 5 led both unit and dollar sales. PS5 spending rose 43% year over year and unit sales rose 22%, giving Sony its highest monthly hardware dollar share since May 2025, GamesIndustry.biz reported. Overall hardware spending rose 12% to $362 million, offsetting dollar-sales declines for Nintendo Switch 2, down 12%, and Xbox Series X|S, down 2%. Switch 2 unit sales fell 14% and Xbox Series X|S units fell 27%, a record September low for Xbox console sales.
Total content spending dropped 2% to $4.2 billion, led by a 14% decline in mobile, while console spending grew 8% and PC spending rose 27%. Projected spending across content, hardware and accessories fell 1% to $4.8 billion. Circana's top-ten rankings cover August 30 to October 3, 2026, and are based on physical and full-game digital dollar sales.
