Circana's September 2026 US sales data, shared by senior director of gaming research Mat Piscatella, shows Marvel's Wolverine finished as the month's top-selling game in physical and full-game digital dollar sales, beating heavyweights like NBA 2K27 and EA Sports FC 27.

According to Kotaku, the Insomniac Games exclusive also landed 11th overall on the year-to-date best-seller list, both marks tracing ahead of Ghost of Yotei's fall launch a year earlier.

The result upends expectations in two ways. First, Wolverine carries only a middling Metacritic score, the kind of reception that usually softens launch sales for a story-driven AAA title.

Second, it is a full PlayStation console exclusive with no PC release planned, cutting off the largest PC market entirely.

Even so, Kotaku reports Circana's Piscatella said the game 'generated the highest launch month full game dollar sales for a Sony published title since the February 2024 debut of Helldivers II.'

The broader Circana breakdown gives the win context. Kotaku reports that total US video game spending across content, hardware, and accessories fell 1 percent year over year to $4.8 billion in September, leaving year-to-date spending 3 percent behind 2025's pace at $41.0 billion.

Unusually, the monthly best-seller list was almost completely dominated by new releases — from The Blood of Dawnwalker to Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve — rather than the usual holdover sports titles and Call of Duty sequels, a mix Kotaku calls heartening for the AAA space.

Wolverine's win sits inside a sharply divided hardware market. According to Kotaku, PlayStation 5 unit sales rose 22 percent year on year in September, while Switch 2 sales fell 14 percent and Xbox Series sales dropped 27 percent.

Piscatella's figures suggest the PS5 bump followed Grand Theft Auto 6's Netflix reveal the prior month, while the Switch 2 decline coincides with a recent price hike — something that may reverse with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time arriving in November.

For Microsoft, Kotaku reports the picture is dismal: AI-fueled price hikes have left an all-digital PS5 at $600 while an equivalent Xbox Series X starts at $750, and supply chain problems have left consoles thinly stocked — the outlet notes a message allegedly asked inactive Xbox owners to resell units to Best Buy.

GTA 6 launches November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, a final pre-holiday hardware catalyst.

Rockstar's official site now lists Grand Theft Auto 6 for November 19, 2026 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S — Collider reports the PS5 version supports haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, and that a PC launch is rumored for early next year.

With GTA 6 preorders live at $79.99 Standard and $99.99 Ultimate per Collider, October's spending data could look very different from September's.