August video game sales continue a general downward slump, just as they did in July, according to industry-tracking firm Circana. Overall game sales are down 9%, with content and hardware contributing to the year’s overall negative balance, and a large part of that is due to how expensive video game consoles are becoming.
| August 2026 Dollar Sales, Millions | Aug 2025 | Aug 2026 | Change |
| Total Video Game Sales (Projected to Total Market) | $4,666 | $4,259 | -9% |
| Video Game Content (Physical & Digital Full Game, DLC/MTX and Subscription consumer spending across Console, Cloud, Mobile*, Portable, PC and VR platforms) | $4,184 | $3,780 | -10% |
| Video Game Hardware | $312 | $302 | -3% |
| Video Game Accessories | $171 | $176 | 3% |
“The average price paid for a new unit of video game hardware in the US reached an August record $541,” said Mat Piscatella, Circana’s director of video games. “The previous August record was $476, set a year ago… Total August 2026 video game hardware unit sales fell 15% versus a year ago to 559k units, the lowest total for an August month since 2013.”
Other sources of decline in August were in mobile, with Sensor Tower reporting that spending dropped 18% year-over-year. A mild increase in physical software spend was driven largely by a 631% increase in physical game key card buying.
| Year-to-Date 2026 Dollar Sales, Millions | YTD 2025 | YTD 2026 | Change |
| Total Video Game Sales (Projected to Total Market) | $37,438 | $36,282 | -3% |
| Video Game Content (Physical & Digital Full Game, DLC/MTX and Subscription consumer spending across Console, Cloud, Mobile*, Portable, PC and VR platforms) | $32,945 | $32,163 | -2% |
| Video Game Hardware | $2,856 | $2,543 | -11% |
| Video Game Accessories | $1,637 | $1,576 | -4% |
Accessories, as a category, are the only one that showed growth in August (though this could be because of relatively low sales last August). According to Piscatella, this is because of increase in Remote Play Device spending, which grew 39% year-over-year. The best-selling device in this category was the PlayStation Portal.
Circana August 2026: Top 10 best-selling games in the U.S.
| Rank | Last Month Rank | Title | Publisher |
| 1 | NEW | NBA 2K27^ | Take-Two Interactive |
| 2 | NEW | Madden NFL 27* | Electronic Arts |
| 3 | NEW | Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls^ | Sony (Corps) |
| 4 | NEW | Kickoff Bundle (2026)* | Electronic Arts |
| 5 | NEW | Star Wars: Zero Company* | Electronic Arts |
| 6 | 6 | Halo: Campaign Evolved* | Microsoft (Corp) |
| 7 | 41 | Elden Ring^ | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| 8 | NEW | Big Walk* | Panic |
| 9 | 19 | Mario Kart World* | Nintendo |
| 10 | 7 | Splatoon Raiders* | Nintendo |
*Includes Digital Sales Projections
For a month in which sales were not the most robust, we certainly got a large number of new games on the charts. Three slots in the top five were given up to sports sims, those being top-seller NBA 2K27 and Madden NFL 27, but staples in long-running series.
The other top-seller in the sports-sim category was the Kickoff Bundle, a combined release of Madden NFL 27 and College Football 27, both from EA Sports.
The bestsellers that weren’t sports sims
Other than the 27-suffixed sports games, we had a few new games that made it onto the list. For starters, Marvel Tokon: Fighting Souls made it to third place, which is probably not surprising given the power of the brand behind it. Similarly, Star Wars: Zero Company did great, which is heartening given that this resulted in Bit Reactor un-furloughing its employees.
The other new game on the list is Big Walk, from Panic. This co-op puzzle adventure became popular among streamers, making a splash amongst reviewers and gamers alike.
One final surprise for August was Elden Ring, which went from 41st place to 7th. According to Piscatella, this was due to the launch of the Tarnished Edition on Switch in August.
Circana August 2026: 10 best-selling games of 2025 so far
| Rank | Last Month Rank | Title | Publisher |
| 1 | 1 | Resident Evil: Requiem^ | Capcom USA |
| 2 | 2 | 007 First Light* | IO Interactive |
| 3 | NEW | NBA 2K27^ | Take-Two Interactive |
| 4 | 4 | MLB: The Show 26^* | Multiple Video Game Publishers |
| 5 | 3 | Crimson Desert* | Pearl Abyss |
| 6 | 5 | Call of Duty: Black Ops II* | Microsoft (Corp) |
| 7 | 6 | Forza Horizon 6* | Microsoft (Corp) |
| 8 | 7 | Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream* | Nintendo |
| 9 | 8 | LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight^ | Warner Bros. Games |
| 10 | 9 | Pokémon: Pokopia* | Nintendo |
As usual, the changes to the YTD chart remain small, reflecting the slower pace of macro-level changes in game sales. The only new game on the list is NBA 2K27, though that’s not surprising for this time of the year — as stated above, sports sims are being the reliable sales staple they’ve always been.