Circana: The U.S. Gaming Market in February 2026
Resident Evil: Requiem experienced a fantastic launch. 3 days on sales were enough to reach the top of the chart.
Market
In February 2026, Americans spent $4.557 billion on games, up 1% year-over-year.
Game content sales held steady at $4.016 billion, matching February 2025.
Game content flat sales was largely thanks to subscription sales growing 27% YoY in February 2026.
Hardware sales jumped 22% YoY to $326 million.
But that hardware growth was entirely down to Nintendo Switch 2. PS5 sales fell 10% YoY, Xbox Series dropped 32%. The original Nintendo Switch was down 69%.
PS5 was still the top-selling system in February, both by units and revenue, despite the year-over-year decline. Nintendo Switch 2 came in second.
Nine months into its lifecycle, Switch 2 sales are running 45% ahead of the original Switch over the same period.
Switch 2 has the second-best sales trajectory of any console in its first 9 months, behind only the Game Boy Advance.
For context, how far Switch 2 is ahead of other consoles over the same timeframe: PS5 +29%, PS4 +30%, Wii +34%, PS2 +56%, Xbox One +61%, Xbox Series +73%, 3DS +96%, Xbox 360 +120%, GameCube +139%, Wii U +302%.
Accessories dipped slightly to $215 million (-2% YoY).
PlayStation Portal was the best-selling accessory of the month (and of 2026 so far) by revenue. DualSense led by units sold.
Game Sales
Resident Evil: Requiem was the best-selling game of February 2026 across all platforms, despite only a couple of days on sale. It also became the best-selling game of the first two months of 2026.
Launch sales for Resident Evil: Requiem were 60%+ higher than Resident Evil: Village at launch in dollar terms, and 40%+ higher in units (excluding bundles).
Other new releases in the February top 20: Mario Tennis Fever (#11, physical only), God of War: Sons of Sparta (#14), My Hero Academia: All’s Justice (#17), and Resident Evil Generation Pack (#20).
Diablo II: Resurrected jumped from #195 in January to #13 in February, driven by the release of Diablo II: Resurrected - Infernal Edition on Steam.
Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined debuted at #7 for February and #14 year-to-date.
Top 5 mobile games by revenue: MONOPOLY GO!, Last War: Survival, Royal Match, Candy Crush Saga, Gossip Harbor. Pokemon GO returned to the top 10 with revenue up 61% MoM.
A word from our sponsor
Boost your game’s revenue with Xsolla’s Buy Button, enabling secure 1-tap purchases via Apple Pay, Google Pay, and saved cards. Leverage Apple’s 2025 update allowing external purchase links in the U.S. to reduce platform fees and increase control over monetization. Sync offers in-game events via API, driving player retention with dynamic bonuses, discounts, and loyalty rewards - all in a seamless, familiar payment flow that maximizes conversions.
Platform Charts
Resident Evil: Requiem topped the charts on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
DOOM: The Dark Ages climbed from #92 to #9 in the aggregated PC chart, partly due to the id Software Anniversary Sale on Steam.
On Nintendo, Mario Tennis Fever led (physical sales only). Resident Evil: Requiem combined with Resident Evil Generation Pack would have taken #2 on Nintendo.