NBA 2K27 topped the US charts in August, becoming the third-best-selling game of the year
Released into early access on August 26, NBA 2K27 reached the top spot in four days of Circana’s tracking period, which ran from August 2 to August 29.
This follows news earlier this week that NBA 2K25 is set to be delisted from storefronts at the end of the month, with servers taken offline on December 31, 2026.
Six new releases made the Top 10 best-selling games in August, including Madden NFL 27 in second place, followed by Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls in third.
New games dominated the Top 5, with Electronic Art’s Kickoff bundle (which includes the standard editions of Madden NFL 27 and EA Sports College Football 27) in fourth and Star Wars: Zero Company from Respawn Entertainment in fifth place.
FromSoftware’s Elden Ring jumped 34 places to No.7 following the release of its Nintendo Switch 2 version on August 28.
Total consumer spend on video games fell 9% in the US in August to $4.3 billion, mainly due to an 18% drop in mobile revenue.
Monopoly Go, Royal Match, and Candy Crush Saga climbed into the top three games for August, with Pokemon Go dropping four places to No.7 after its 10th anniversary celebrations ended, which generated $48.5 million
Total content sales dropped 10% to $3.8 billion, down from $4.1 billion in August 2025. Console content fell 7% YoY, while subscription spending grew 3% and PC increased 13% YoY.
Circana found that year-to-date spending on new physical software increased 5% in August to $738 million. Spending on Game-Key Card physical releases rose 631%, offsetting a 3% drop in other physical media.
Hardware unit sales fell 15% year-on-year to 559,000, the lowest August total since 2013, when it was 423,000 units.
Xbox hardware unit sales declined 31% to the lowest August total since 2020, while PlayStation fell 11% to its lowest August total since 2013. Nintendo hardware sales decreased 15% compared to August 2025.
Overall hardware spending dropped 3% to $302 million. However, PlayStation 5 hardware sales grew 17% year-over-year. Growth was offset by 13% spending drops across Xbox Series and Switch 2 hardware.
Circana also noted that the average price for a new unit of gaming hardware in the US reached an August record of $541. The previous August record was $476 last year.
Here are the projected top 10 best-selling games from the period of August 2 to August 29, 2026, data courtesy of Circana:
| Rank | Last month rank | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | NEW | NBA 2K27^ |
| 2 | NEW | Madden NFL 27* |
| 3 | NEW | Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls^ |
| 4 | NEW | Kickoff Bundle (2026)* |
| 5 | NEW | Star Wars: Zero Company* |
| 6 | 6 | Halo: Campaign Evolved* |
| 7 | 41 | Elden Ring^ |
| 8 | NEW | Big Walk* |
| 9 | 19 | Mario Kart World* |
| 10 | 7 | Splatoon Raiders* |
^ Includes Digital Point of Sale Actuals, * Includes Digital Sales Projections
