PS5 spending jumps 43% in the U.S. on Marvel's Wolverine
Sony reaches its biggest hardware dollar share since May 2025, while Xbox posts its weakest September in Circana's records.
Spending on PS5 consoles in the U.S. was 43% higher in September than in the same month of 2025, according to the monthly report from Circana, the research firm that tracks the American video game market.
The driver was Marvel's Wolverine, the month's best-selling game.
Mat Piscatella, a Circana analyst, said Wolverine posted the biggest dollar sales of any Sony launch since Helldivers II in February 2024, and that gave the company its largest share of hardware dollars in a month since May 2025.
On the other side, Xbox Series slipped 2% in dollars, and Xbox consoles overall had their lowest September in Circana's historical series. Switch 2 also fell.
The overall market was nearly flat: hardware rose 12% and total spending fell 1%.
| Category | Sep. 2025 | Sep. 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total spending | 4,796 | 4,756 | -1% |
| Hardware | 324 | 362 | +12% |
| Accessories | 199 | 218 | +10% |
Year to date, hardware totals $2,905 million, 9% less than in 2025, and total spending is down 3%, at $41,038 million. The limited-edition Wolverine Battle Yellow DualSense was September's best-selling accessory, in units and in dollars, Piscatella said.
After Wolverine, September's software ranking is rounded out by NBA 2K27, EA Sports FC 27, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave and The Blood of Dawnwalker. Eight of the top ten were new releases.
Circana measures only the U.S. market, so none of this describes global sales. NBA 2K27 is now the best-selling game of 2026 so far, ahead of Resident Evil Requiem.
