So, how did the September 2026 games deluge work out?
Hi there! Now that the final stretch of the year is here, I'm really interested in examining one of the busiest periods of 2026, where the month of September saw a mountain of big games, most of which reviewed quite well.
Plenty of people, myself included, noted how much of a problem this packed schedule appeared to be well in advance, with multiple big games releasing days apart from each other or even directly atop one another.
I thought it'd be interesting to scroll back a few weeks, look at the highlights from the fall's launches, and take a look at some of the games that appear to have either come out on top so far, or have fallen a bit by the wayside.
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An intriguing and crammed September slate
It's been an absolutely fantastic period for games, even if it's less great for many of the awesome teams that actually make them. There have been plenty of busy periods before, but this month was simply absurd, in a great way.
In order to help understand just how crammed this five-week stretch was and to better provide context around which games sold fairly well, I've denoted each title by its release date, eschewing any limited early access periods for simplicity and sanity.
For similar reasons of sanity, I'm restricting this to entirely-new game launches and I won't be going over any ports, DLC, expansion packs, or major updates that landed this month, of which there were also plenty (I'm looking at you, Witcher 3 Remastered).
AUGUST 27 – The onslaught of back-to-back massive game releases arguably began in August, with Electronic Arts and Bit Reactor's turn-based tactics title Star Wars: Zero Company, as well as Focus Entertainment and Asobo and Focus Entertainment's Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy.
The former has done quite well, reaching over a million copies sold as Oct 9, 2026, per a statement from EA on Twitter (X), as well being projected as the fifth best-selling game of August, per per analytics firm Circana. Bit Reactor had furloughed roughly 80% of its staff just after the game launched, but following the successful launch, over half are now back at the studio.
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy, meanwhile, has not seemed to garner the same audience its predecessors found. No exact figure has been given, but it was nowhere in the top ten best-sellers for the U.S. in the months of August or September, per Circana. Importantly, Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy was available in Xbox Game Pass for subscribers on console and PC at launch.
Focus Entertainment parent company PullUp noted in its second quarter results for the year that the game's launch "was not as dynamic as expected," though the company added that it will be a "solid contributor to our back catalogue."
SEPTEMBER 3 – Rebel Wolves' debut vampire role-playing game, The Blood of Dawnwalker, is off to a fantastic start. Published by Bandai Namco, the game hit the million-copy milestone less than three days after launch, per a statement on Twitter (X). Notably, it was also the fifth best-selling game of September in the U.S, per Circana.
Rebel Wolves is already hiring to work on a sequel, with a planned "Dawnwalker Saga" series of games.
SEPTEMBER 4 – Onimusha: Way of the Sword continues Capcom's hot streak, and as of the company's latest earnings results, it has sold over 1.7 million copies, and was the seventh best-selling game of the U.S. in September.
Most impressively? It marks Capcom's third new release this year to sell over a million copies, with Pragmata and Resident Evil Requiem currently sitting at 2.7 million and 8.5 million copies sold, respectively.
SEPTEMBER 8 – Illfonic's Halloween: The Game does not have any official sales milestones so far, but the game did appear as the eighth best-selling game of the U.S. in September, per Circana. That's despite having a launch price of $40, which makes it harder to chart as Circana tracks revenue instead of units sold.
SEPTEMBER 15 – Marvel's Wolverine is an interesting one. PlayStation and Insomniac Games have so far not provided details on the early performance of this blockbuster exclusive, but there's a decent chance that changes soon with the company's next financial results coming in a few days.
It's certainly off to a strong start, as it ranked #1 in the list of best-selling games in the U.S. for September. With weaker reviews compared to Insomniac's Spider-Man titles, I'll be fascinated to see what its legs look like in the months ahead.
SEPTEMBER 17 – While we don't have any major numbers for the Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, there are reasons to be hopeful. The game was the fourth best-selling title of September in the U.S, so even if doesn't quite reach the breakout success of 2019's Fire Emblem: Three Houses, it should be doing quite well.
SEPTEMBER 24 – Here, we have Control Resonant, a game that I'll freely admit I was the most worried about when looking at the scheduling. Those fears were unfounded, as Remedy Entertainment confirmed that not only has this game sold over a million copies so far, but that it's actually the developer's fastest-selling game ever. That's despite not appearing in Circana's projections for the month.
As for this day's other big release, Silent Hill: Townfall, there's nothing so far. It was also nowhere to be seen in the September best-sellers for the U.S. A lack of information doesn't always mean anything per se, but considering Konami was quick to put out statements for the success of Silent Hill 2 remake and Silent Hill f, it seems fairly telling for the moment.
SEPTEMBER 29 – Mojang and Xbox Game Studios' Minecraft Dungeons 2 did not appear in the top sales of the month, and there's been no statements on its performance so far. Some caveats here to keep in mind: It is available for subscribers in Xbox Game Pass, it launched at the very end of the month, and it is only $30, all of which would make it harder to appear in the revenue-based sales charts of Circana.
The packed fall continues
While October and November are slightly less crowded, the avalanche of big games didn't slow down all that much.
October has seen the launch of titles like Gears of War: E-Day, Clive Barker's Hellraiser: Revival, Star Wars Galactic Racer, Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, and of course, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4.
Even more are yet to come, with Nintendo's Ocarina of Time remake and the blockbuster that the entire industry has held its breath around, Rockstar Games' Grand Theft Auto 6.
Since we're technically still in October as I'm writing this, I'm giving it some time, but I'll be eager to dig into what numbers we get from all of these games at some point toward the end of the year.
A bottom line?
There are still a dizzying number of factors all at play here that I haven't gotten into. Different genres, what impact (if any) that reviews have, different levels of budgets requiring very different returns on investment, the neverending debates of subscription engagement vs. outright purchases, and the list goes on.
If there's a takeaway here, it's pretty notable that four fairly different games are officially at well over a million copies sold, and multiple other titles are almost certainly in the same ballpark or over, even if their publishers haven't chosen to give a statement just yet.
Everyone has been trying to stay out of the way of Grand Theft Auto 6, and I'm glad that so many games seemingly managed to stay afloat despite being packed together.
What I'm playing
It's the spooky season, so fittingly, I finally got started on The Blood of Dawnwalker. Coen, the recently-turned vampiric protagonist, has 3o days and nights to save his family. The time management system here really works, making me think carefully without being anxiety-inducing.
I also picked up Castlevania: Belmont's Curse, which I'm planning to start over Halloween as I continue with Dawnwalker.
