It was an understandably quiet January in the U.S. games market, with very few new releases and a bit of a comedown from a busy holiday season leaving Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 again the best-selling game of the month, and the PlayStation 5 on top for consoles.
The PS5 led hardware in both unit and dollar sales, with the Nintendo Switch 2 taking second in both, according to analysis shared by Circana senior director and analyst Mat Piscatella. Overall hardware spending was up 16% year-over-year, with an increase in Switch 2 spending (admittedly an increase over nothing, as the Switch 2 wasn’t out last year) offsetting declines in spending on PS5 (down 17%), Xbox Series (down 27%) and Switch 1 (down a whopping but understandable 79%). Accessories spending was down 5% to $185 million.
In content, spending up was up 3% year-over-year to $4.3 billion, largely driven by a 23% increase in subscription spending. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 was once again the best-selling game of the month, followed by NBA 2K26 again in the No.2 spot, and Madden NFL 26 rising from No.4 last month to No.3 in January. Battlefield 6, last month’s No.3, dropped to No. 5 in January.
The only new game entering the top 20 for January was Code Vein II, which came in at No. 11. We did see Final Fantasy 7: Remake leap from No.225 last month to No.9 for January, thanks to its Xbox Series and Nintendo Switch 2 releases. Fallout 4 also made a big jump from No.68 to No.20, possibly thanks both to Season 2 of the Fallout TV show coinciding with a major drop in price on Steam at the end of the month.
Additionally, Piscatella tells IGN that outside the top 20, both Fable Anniversary and Animal Crossing: New Horizons saw significant sales bumps. In the former’s case, this was thanks to the new trailer for the upcoming Fable game, and in the latter’s, due to the DLC and Switch 2 release.
Overall, total gaming spending reached $4.7 billion, up 3% year-over-year. Not exactly a thrilling start to 2026, but when has January ever been an explosive month for games?
January 2026 U.S. Top 20 Best-Selling Games:
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
- NBA 2K26
- Madden NFL 26
- Minecraft*
- Battlefield 6
- EA Sports FC 26
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Red Dead Redemption II
- Final Fantasy VII: Remake
- Forza Horizon 5
- Code Vein II (NEW)
- Ghost of Yotei
- Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
- EA Sports College Football 26
- Helldivers II
- Pokemon Legends: Z-A*
- Split Fiction
- Elden Ring
- Flight Simulator 2024
- Fallout 4
* Indicates that some or all digital sales are not included in Circana’s data. Some publishers, including Nintendo, do not share certain digital data for this report.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
