CONFIRMED
Marvel’s Wolverine was the best-selling game in the US in September 2026, according to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella. It also posted the highest launch-month dollar sales for any Sony-published title since Helldivers 2. PS5 led US hardware in both units and dollars, and Sony’s dollar share of the hardware market hit its highest single-month level since May 2025.
What we know
Piscatella’s figures, reported by Push Square, put Wolverine at No. 1 for full-game dollar sales in the September tracking period, which ran from August 30 to October 3. The Insomniac game launched September 15 and has already debuted as the 11th best-selling game of 2026 so far.
The Helldivers 2 comparison comes directly from Piscatella, as quoted by VGChartz and also reported by GameSpot and Push Square. That means no Sony-published release since February 2024 has had a bigger US launch month in dollar terms.
On hardware, Push Square cites Circana data showing PS5 dollar sales up 43% year over year and unit sales up 22%. Switch 2 units fell 14% and Xbox Series X|S units fell 27%. PS5 finished first, Switch 2 second and Xbox third. VGChartz and Push Square both report it was Xbox’s worst September on record. Bloomberg reported the same 22% and 43% figures, also citing Circana.
Wolverine also lifted accessories. Piscatella said the PS5 Limited Edition DualSense Wolverine Battle Yellow controller was September’s best-selling US accessory in both units and dollars.
PlayStation’s own PS Store charts, as reported by EGW and Tech4Gamers, put Wolverine first in the US ahead of EA Sports FC 27, NBA 2K27 and Madden NFL 27. In Europe, it placed second behind EA Sports FC 27.
For context, TwistedVoxel and VGChartz report total US spending of $4.76 billion in September, down 1%. Hardware spending reached $362 million, up 12% year over year, but year-to-date hardware spending is still down 9%.
What is rumored
Sony has not confirmed any unit sales, and GameSpot notes Sony hasn’t commented on overall sales.
Ampere Analysis estimates that Wolverine sold about 2.16 million copies on PS5 worldwide in September, second on the platform behind EA Sports FC 27. That figure reached us through secondary reports from KeenGamer and games.gg, so treat it as a third-party estimate.
GameSpot cites a separate estimate of 1.9 million units by September 18, including 799,000 physical. No originator is named, so this one is weaker still.
VGChartz’s own tracker estimates US PS5 sales at about 259,007 units in September against roughly 238,005 for Switch 2. These are VGChartz estimates, not Circana data.
What we don’t know yet
The biggest gap is real unit sales. Circana’s rankings are by dollars, and Sony hasn’t shared a number.
Why PS5 surged is also unsettled. Bloomberg attributes the rise to anticipation for GTA VI, price increases and PS5 Pro popularity, but that is Bloomberg’s reading. Circana did not attribute the jump to GTA VI. Push Square instead credits Wolverine, price effects and the end of a social-media “PS5 blackout” campaign, which concluded at the start of the tracking period. That last point is Push Square’s characterisation.
Two numbers also keep getting mixed up. The 43% is dollar growth and the 22% is unit growth. Push Square notes the gap reflects the console’s higher price. The “since May 2025” milestone is about Sony’s share of hardware dollars, not a record month for absolute PS5 sales.
Digital data is another caveat. Push Square notes many publishers no longer share digital data with Circana, which uses projections for them. Sony is one of the few still sharing.
What it means
This is a clear first-party win. Wolverine topped the US chart despite a middling Metacritic score of about 75 to 76 and online arguments over its face model and scent-trail mechanic, per VGTimes, EGW and GameSpot.
PS5 also heads into the holidays with momentum. It outsold Switch 2 in the US in November 2025, January 2026 and February 2026, according to Push Square and Dexerto, and now leads again in September. GTA VI is scheduled for November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, per Bloomberg via Yahoo Finance, so the next few Circana reports will be the real test.
Keep it in proportion. One strong month doesn’t erase a 9% year-to-date hardware decline. For now, the takeaway is simple: Wolverine sold, and PS5 sold with it.
