The short version
- Marvel's Wolverine was the best-selling game in the US in September, according to Circana. It had the biggest launch month in dollar sales for a Sony-published game since Helldivers 2.
- PS5 dollar sales rose 43% and units 22% year on year. It was Sony's best hardware month since May 2025, and PS5 beat Switch 2 in both units and dollars.
- Xbox Series units fell 27%, an all-time September low for Xbox in the US.
- These are US-only numbers. Circana doesn't track India.
Wolverine's month
Insomniac's Marvel's Wolverine launched on September 15 as a PS5 exclusive at $69.99 (about ₹6,650 converted). It only had half a month to sell and still topped the chart. Circana's Mat Piscatella said its launch-month dollar sales were the highest for any Sony-published game since Helldivers 2 in February 2024.
A few more numbers around it:
- It went straight into the year-to-date chart at 11th, after about two weeks on sale.
- Physical copies were reportedly about 35% of its launch sales, a high share in a mostly digital market.
- Research firm Ampere (not Circana) estimates about 2.16 million PS5 copies sold worldwide in September, second on PS5 only to EA Sports FC 27.
It's the clearest case this year of an exclusive doing exactly what platform holders want: selling consoles. More on that below.
The September top 10
Image: Zerocade
Eight of the ten were new releases. Sports did what sports always does in September, with NBA 2K27, EA Sports FC 27 and Madden NFL 27 all placing. Nintendo's Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave came fourth, a strong result for a game that only sells on Switch and Switch 2.
For the year so far, NBA 2K27 has overtaken Resident Evil Requiem as 2026's best-seller in the US.
The hardware picture
Image: Zerocade
Total console units fell 3%. Underneath that, the three platforms went in very different directions:
- PS5: units up 22%, dollars up 43%. That's a Wolverine effect, plus more expensive models selling.
- Switch 2: units down 14%, dollars down 12%. It's up against its own huge launch year.
- Xbox Series: units down 27%, dollars down just 2%.
That last gap is the story of 2026 console pricing. Xbox dollars held up because each console costs far more. Piscatella says the average Xbox Series sold for $663 in September, up 33% on a year ago. The average PS5 went for $646 (up 17%), and Switch 2 stayed close to flat at $498.
In rupees, $663 is about ₹63,000, before any of India's import costs. Prices only look like going one way: see our report on what the next Xbox could cost.
A caveat on digital
Circana ranks games by dollar sales, physical plus full-game digital. Several publishers no longer share digital data, so some positions use Circana's own estimates for digital sales. Xbox and EA have reportedly stopped sharing. Treat close calls on the chart with some caution. Our explainer on how sales charts work goes into this in more detail.
What it means
On paper, September was Sony's month: a big exclusive drove hardware, as it's supposed to. For Xbox, a record low in a month with no big Xbox release adds to the case that its console business is shrinking while Game Pass and PC carry more of the load. October's report will include Gears of War: E-Day and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, which gives Xbox a better shot.
What to watch next
Circana's October report arrives in late November, with Modern Warfare 4 and E-Day in it. After that, everyone's waiting on GTA 6 on November 19, which will likely top the charts for the rest of the year.
