NBA 2K27 leads US sales in August, now ranks as the third-best selling game of 2026 | US Monthly Charts

NBA 2K27 has achieved the top position in the United States gaming market for August, ranking as the third-highest selling game of the current year, based on figures from Circana. The game, which became accessible to players on August 26, managed to reach this leading position within just four days of the tracking timeframe from August 2 to August 29.

This comes alongside recent announcements that NBA 2K25 will be unavailable for purchase by the end of the month, with its servers expected to shut down on December 31, 2026.

Among the new releases, six titles broke into the Top 10 best sellers for August. Madden NFL 27 held the second spot, with Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls following in third. The Electronic Arts Kickoff bundle, which features the standard editions of Madden NFL 27 and EA Sports College Football 27, secured fourth place. Meanwhile, Star Wars: Zero Company by Respawn Entertainment was fifth.

Elden Ring by FromSoftware saw a significant rise, moving from 41st to 7th place, driven by its release on the Nintendo Switch 2 on August 28.

Total spending on video games in the US dropped by 9% in August, amounting to $4.3 billion, largely due to an 18% dip in mobile game revenues. Monopoly Go, Royal Match, and Candy Crush Saga claimed the top spots amongst games, while Pokémon Go fell to 7th place post its anniversary festivities, which reportedly generated $48.5 million, according to AppMagic.

Sales of content overall fell by 10% to $3.8 billion, down from $4.1 billion the previous year in August. While console content sales saw a 7% decline year-over-year, subscription services experienced a 3% increase, and PC sales went up by 13%.

Circana observed a 5% rise in year-to-date expenditure on new physical software, reaching $738 million in August, with Game-Key Card sales soaring by 631%, offsetting a 3% dip in other physical formats.

Hardware sales in terms of units saw a 15% year-on-year decrease, with 559,000 units sold — the lowest since 2013 when sales were 423,000 units.

Specifically, Xbox hardware sales declined 31% to the lowest since 2020, and PlayStation sales reduced by 11%, marking the smallest total since 2013. Nintendo's hardware saw a 15% decline compared to August 2025.

Despite a 3% fall to $302 million overall in hardware spending, PlayStation 5 units saw a 17% increase from the previous year, though this was counterbalanced by a decrease of 13% in both Xbox Series and Switch 2 hardware sales.

Additionally, the average price of new gaming hardware in the US hit a new high for August at $541, surpassing the prior year's record of $476.

Below are the top 10 best-selling games from the August 2 to August 29, 2026 period, as indicated by Circana:

^ Includes Digital Point of Sale Actuals, * Includes Digital Sales Projections