Xbox console sales in the United States reached the lowest volume ever recorded for a September, while the PlayStation 5 posted growth of 22% in units sold. The figures are part of Circana's survey for September 2026, released on Thursday (22).
Sales of the Xbox Series X and S fell 27% in units compared with September 2025. According to Mat Piscatella, a Circana analyst, the result set a new record low for September in the history of the Xbox ecosystem, surpassing the mark recorded in the same month the previous year.
Sony's performance went in the opposite direction. In addition to growth in units, revenue generated by PS5 sales rose 43%, giving the platform its largest monthly share of revenue in the US console market since May 2025.
Nintendo also recorded a decline, with a 14% drop in Switch 2 units sold. In hardware revenue, the reductions were 12% for Nintendo's console and just 2% for Xbox, despite the sharper contraction in the volume of devices sold.
Across the US market, spending on video games, including games, consoles, and accessories, totaled approximately US$ 4.8 billion in September, an annual decline of 1%.
Marvel's Wolverine leads game sales in the United States
Among games, Marvel's Wolverine, developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony, debuted at the top of the US September ranking, based on revenue from full-game sales in physical and digital formats.
The title achieved the highest monthly launch revenue for a game published by Sony since Helldivers II, in February 2024. It also debuted as the 11th best-selling game of 2026 year-to-date, by the same revenue criterion.
NBA 2K27 occupied the second position in September, followed by EA Sports FC 27. The survey showed that eight of the ten best-selling games of the month were recent releases.
Despite differences among manufacturers, the total hardware market posted growth of 12% in revenue, reaching US$ 362 million, even with a 3% drop in the total number of units sold.
The results reflect exclusively the US market and do not represent the global performance of the three manufacturers.
