After December, Microsoft (Activision Blizzard) stayed on top in the first month of 2026 as well.
Mat Piscatella, managing director at Circana, published his January recap of video game sales in the United States, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 ranked first on the premium (paid) sales chart. Total spending across the US games industry rose 3% year over year, driven primarily by growth in subscription services and hardware sales. This marks the second consecutive month that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 has led the US premium game sales chart, although its December finish at number one was not enough to overtake Battlefield 6 on the 2025 annual list. Still, Battlefield 6’s content gap (Season 2 only arrived this week) hurt its January performance, and the game slipped from third to fifth place on the sales chart.
Meanwhile, NBA 2K26 held onto second place, Minecraft climbed from eighth to fourth, and Madden NFL 26 moved from fourth to third. Overall, there were no major changes in the top five, but the top 10 did feature one particularly notable mover, jumping all the way from 225th to ninth. That game was Final Fantasy VII Remake, which surged into the top 10 thanks to its releases on Nintendo Switch 2 and Xbox Series. Technically, Forza Horizon 5 sits between Final Fantasy VII Remake and Code Vein 2, the only new release on the list, but it’s likely Code Vein 2 missed the top 10 because of the momentum behind Square Enix’s remake.
Looking specifically at PC games sold in the United States, Code Vein 2 topped the chart. The only other title that made the top 20 in January after not ranking among the US top 30 best-sellers in December was Fallout 4, which sat at 68th in December and then just edged into 20th in January.
Away from the rankings themselves (January is not typically known for heavy game spending, especially as it lands right after the holiday rush), total spending across the US games industry rose 3% versus January 2025, driven by hardware and subscription outlays. That suggests many consumers likely used holiday gift money for new console purchases, including PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2, which ranked as the first and second best-selling hardware devices in January 2026. Looking only at hardware spending, January 2026 was up 16% compared to January last year.
