July’s video game sales in the United States are down, with spending having dropped by 10% overall year-over-year, according to industry-tracking firm Circana. While several new games showed up on the overall sales ranking for the month, it was an old game, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, that snagged the top spot.
| July 2026 Dollar Sales, Millions | July 2025 | July 2026 | Change |
| Total Video Game Sales (Projected to Total Market) | $5,037 | $4,528 | -10% |
| Video Game Content (Physical & Digital Full Game, DLC/MTX and Subscription consumer spending across Console, Cloud, Mobile*, Portable, PC and VR platforms) | $4,452 | $4,068 | -9% |
| Video Game Hardware | $395 | $282 | -29% |
| Video Game Accessories | $189 | $178 | -6% |
“New physical software dollar sales dipped to an all-time July low of $85 million (since tracking began in 1995), while hardware spending fell to a low not seen since July 2020, when pandemic-fueled sellouts and logistics challenges made finding new video game hardware to buy extremely difficult,” said Mat Piscatella, Circana’s director of video games.
Hardware sales were down 29% year-over-year, and Circana also notes that the average selling price of a new hardware unit went up by 16%. In response to a Sony’s pronouncement that it will stop selling physical discs by 2028, it also notes that, in all of 2026, Sony disc sales account for 32% of new physical games. 63% of sales are for Nintendo products.
| Year-to-Date 2026 Dollar Sales, Millions | YTD 2025 | YTD 2026 | Change |
| Total Video Game Sales (Projected to Total Market) | $32,768 | $32,020 | -2% |
| Video Game Content (Physical & Digital Full Game, DLC/MTX and Subscription consumer spending across Console, Cloud, Mobile*, Portable, PC and VR platforms) | $28,761 | $28,383 | -1% |
| Video Game Hardware | $2,547 | $2,248 | -12% |
| Video Game Accessories | $1,460 | $1,389 | -5% |
”The market comparables continue to be impacted by the record-setting June 2025 launch of Nintendo Switch 2,” said Piscatella. “However, the challenges extend far beyond simple cyclicality. Higher hardware prices driven by the RAM and component crisis have significantly impacted the selling rates of both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series, with a price hike for Nintendo Switch 2 hardware coming on September 1.”
Circana July 2026: Top 10 best-selling games in the U.S.
| Rank | Last Month Rank | Title | Publisher |
| 1 | 67 | Call of Duty: Black Ops II* | Microsoft (Corp) |
| 2 | NEW | EA Sports College Football 27* | Electronic Arts |
| 3 | NEW | Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag: Resynced* | Ubisoft |
| 4 | NEW | EA Sports MVP Bundle (2026)* | Electronic Arts |
| 5 | 150 | Call of Duty: Black Ops* | Microsoft (Corp) |
| 6 | NEW | Halo: Campaign Evolved* | Microsoft (Corp) |
| 7 | NEW | Splatoon Raiders* | Nintendo |
| 8 | NEW | Echoes of Aincrad: Sword Art Online^ | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| 9 | 6 | Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream* | Nintendo |
| 10 | 3 | 007 First Light* | IO Interactive |
* Includes Digital Sales Projections
At first blush, the July sales charts look like they’re full of new games. However, a closer look reveals that some of the bestsellers are iterations of yearly series. EA Sports College Football 27 is the second-best-selling game of the month, and the EA Sports MVP Bundle (which contains College Football 27 and Madden NFL 27). The only two truly new games on the list are Splatoon Raiders and Echoes of Aincrad: Sword Art Online.
The other two “new” games on the list are rereleases of existing titles. Assassin’s Creed Black Flag: Resynced, Ubisoft’s buffed-up remake of one of the most beloved Assassin’s Creed titles, is the third-best-selling title of the month. Halo: Campaign Evolved, which Dean called “a delight to play” in his review, was the sixth.
The two winners on the list are very old games recently re-released on new consoles. Call of Duty: Black Ops and Black Ops 2 launched in July on the PlayStations 4 and 5, courtesy of Iron Galaxy Studios. The fact that they rose to the top 10 from relatively low positions — 150 and 67, respectively — is a testament to either the staying power of these two classic titles or the paucity of the other releases in July, perhaps even both.
Circana July 2026: 10 best-selling games of 2025 so far
| Rank | Last Month Rank | Title | Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | Resident Evil: Requiem^ | Capcom USA |
| 2 | 3 | 007 First Light* | IO Interactive |
| 3 | 2 | Crimson Desert* | Pearl Abyss |
| 4 | 4 | MLB: The Show 26^* | Multiple Video Game Publishers |
| 5 | 130 | Call of Duty: Black Ops II | Microsoft (Corp) |
| 6 | 5 | Forza Horizon 6* | Microsoft (Corp) |
| 7 | 7 | Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream* | Nintendo |
| 8 | 6 | LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight^ | Warner Bros. Games |
| 9 | 8 | Pokemon: Pokopia* | Nintendo |
| 10 | NEW | EA Sports College Football 27* | Electronic Arts |
* Includes Digital Sales Projections
As stated above, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has spiked up the list thanks to the recently launched port for current-gen PlayStations. This fourteen-year-old game is now one of the best-selling titles in 2026, an achievement that might be eclipsed by the large number of games set to launch in the next couple of months (to say nothing of Grand Theft Auto VI).