The end of 2026 has been filled with great games, all leading up to GTA 6 on November 19, so it’s no surprise that PS5 sales jumped last month.
PlayStation 5 sales jumped 22%, according to a report from Bloomberg, with data from Circana. And, while it’s likely that the rise of GTA 6 contributed to these sales, it appears to be September’s all-star game lineup, and particularly Marvel’s Wolverine, that is primarily driving the PS5’s recent success.
We reached out to Circana senior director and video game industry advisor Mat Piscatella for comment on these recent sales increases, and he told us that despite its lackluster reception, Wolverine has generated quite a few hardware sales. “The PS5’s hardware development was mainly due to Marvel’s Wolverine. NBA 2K27 and Grand Theft Auto VI probably contributed as well,” he said. However, he added that “Xbox Series did not see a similar increase in sales during the month.”
When IGN reviewed Wolverine, we gave it an average score of 6 out of 10, with reviewer Simon Cardy saying, “Marvel’s Wolverine’s clever, satisfying combat peters out well before its conclusion, so much so that even its strong character work can’t quite keep it from being anything other than okay.” »
In the weeks since the game’s release, the community has also been mixed on the game, and Insomniac has had to respond by fixing some of the more convenient mechanics, like adding a toggle for the ever-present scent trail that guides you to objectives. But from the start, there were signs that Wolverine was selling out.
Now, more than a month after its release, Wolverine appears to have been a real success, with Piscatella saying: “For Marvel’s Wolverine, (it’s) hard to give an overview of things without understanding people’s frame of reference, but it was the best seller of the month, ranking 11th year to date, with a hardware pack that appears to be out of print and the best-selling accessory on the market during the month with the limited edition Marvel’s Wolverine DualSense. This Looks nice. That’s fine for me. But we’ll have to see how the legs evolve 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.
This set of hardware is likely one of the main reasons why PlayStation sales have been so rosy over the past month. The controller looked amazing and started selling out before the game even launched.
When it comes to GTA 6, though, if a game like Wolverine was able to drive hardware like this, I can only imagine GTA will have an even bigger impact. We have already started to see signs of this phenomenon. Just a few weeks ago, the PS5 Pro started selling enough that used models were going for as much as $1,400, or $500 more than their retail price. And, as of today, that price still stands, with the PS5 Pro available on Amazon and Gamestop for $1,399.
At this price, it will be interesting to see the sales data for the coming month and how many people are willing to shell out that kind of money for a new console. After all, rumors swirled this week that the next-gen Xbox Project Helix could cost as much as $1,800. There have also been leaks suggesting that for the PS6, just the RAM and SSD will cost around $680, which could allow Sony’s next-gen console to command a similar price.
Gn tech
