Marvel’s Wolverine claimed the top position on the US games sales chart for September, delivering the highest monthly dollar sales for a Sony-published title since the release of Helldivers 2. The debut propelled a busy month of new releases while hardware spending saw significant momentum driven by strong PlayStation 5 performance.
According to Circana data covering the period from August 30 to October 3, 2026, overall projected spending across content, hardware, and accessories dipped 1% in September to $4.8 billion. Despite the slight overall decrease, hardware spending climbed 12% to reach $362 million, offsetting declines in other hardware segments and softer content spending.
Sony capitalized on the hardware growth, with the PlayStation 5 leading the market in both unit and dollar sales. PS5 spending jumped 43% year over year, while unit sales grew 22%, yielding Sony’s highest monthly hardware dollar share since May 2025. This surge countered declines elsewhere in the console market, as Nintendo Switch 2 unit sales decreased 14% and dollar sales fell 12%. Meanwhile, Xbox Series X|S unit sales dropped 27%, pushing Xbox Ecosystem console sales to a record September low, and overall Xbox dollar sales slipped 2%.
Total content spending across the industry dropped 2% to $4.2 billion in September, weighed down by a 14% decline in mobile gaming. However, traditional gaming segments performed well; console content spending grew 8%, and PC spending posted a robust 27% increase.
The September software charts saw heavy disruption from new releases, with eight brand-new titles debuting in the top tier. Marvel’s Wolverine took the No. 1 spot, pushing last month’s leader, NBA 2K27, down to No. 2, while outperforming another new arrival, EA Sports FC 27, at No. 3. Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave captured the No. 4 spot, and The Blood of Dawnwalker rounded out the top five.
Additional new entries making an impact on the September chart included Wardogs at No. 6, Onimusha: Way of the Sword at No. 7, Halloween: The Game at No. 8, and Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve at No. 9. Madden NFL 27 rounded out the top ten best-selling titles for the tracked period.
Despite surrendering the monthly crown to Marvel’s Wolverine, NBA 2K27 achieved a major milestone by surpassing Resident Evil Requiem to claim the title of best-selling game of the year 2026 to date.
