PS5 Sales Jump 22% Ahead of GTA 6, Driven by Marvel's Wolverine

The latter half of 2026 has been stacked with great games, all building anticipation for GTA 6 on November 19. So it's no surprise that PS5 sales have surged compared to last month.

According to a Bloomberg report citing Circana data, PlayStation 5 sales have increased by 22%. While the hype for GTA 6 likely contributed, it appears that September's stellar game lineup—especially Marvel's Wolverine—was the main driver behind the PS5's recent success.

We reached out to Circana Senior Director and Video Game Industry Advisor Mat Piscatella for comment on the sales increase. He told us that despite its mixed reception, Wolverine drove significant hardware sales. "PS5's hardware boost was primarily driven by Marvel's Wolverine. NBA 2K27 and Grand Theft Auto VI also likely helped," he said. However, he added that "Xbox Series did not get a similar sales boost during the month."

In our review, IGN gave Wolverine a middling 6 out of 10, with reviewer Simon Cardy saying, "Marvel's Wolverine's slick and satisfying combat wears thin well before its conclusion, so much so that even its strong character work can't quite save it from being anything more than okay."

In the weeks since release, the community has also been divided, and Insomniac has responded by fixing some of the more hand-holdy mechanics, such as adding a toggle for the ever-present scent trail that guides you to objectives. But even early on, there were signs that Wolverine was selling well.

Now, more than a month after release, Wolverine seems to have been a success. Piscatella said, "For Marvel's Wolverine, [it's] tough to give things a vibe check without understanding folks' frame of reference, but it was the month's best-seller, ranks 11th year-to-date, with a hardware bundle that seems to have sold out and the market's best-selling accessory during the month with the limited edition Marvel's Wolverine DualSense. Seems pretty good to me. But, we'll have to see how the legs are over time. It wasn't as big as say Marvel's Spider-Man 2, but I don't think that would have ever been a reasonable assumption."

That hardware bundle was likely a big reason why PlayStation's sales were so strong last month. The controller looked amazing and started selling out before the game even launched.

Looking ahead to GTA 6, if a game like Wolverine could drive hardware like this, GTA is bound to make an even bigger impact. We've already started to see signs of that. Just a couple of weeks ago, the PS5 Pro started selling out enough that used models were going for as much as $1,400—$500 above their shelf price. And that price still holds today, with the PS5 Pro available on both Amazon and GameStop for $1,399.

At that price, it will be interesting to see sales data for the coming month and how many people are willing to pay that much for a new console. After all, there have been rumors this week that the next-generation Xbox Project Helix may cost up to $1,800. There were also leaks suggesting that for the PS6, just the RAM and SSD alone will cost around $680, which could see Sony's next-gen console commanding a similar price.