It took four years, but the Xbox Series X is finally outselling the Xbox Series S in the United States by a slim margin, according to this month's report from Circana.
Circana, which tracks US game spending in dollars, reports that the Xbox Series X accounted for 58% of all total Xbox Series units sold in September, and 51% of all Xbox Series units sold life to date.
This is especially notable given that when we last checked, the Series S was well ahead. During a big leak of Xbox court documents last year, we learned that as of April 2022, 74.8% of Xbox Series owners globally owned an S, and 25.1% owned an X. At the time, both Circana's Mat Piscatella and Niko Partners' Daniel Ahmad clariifed to IGN that the split in 2023 was closer to 50/50, but that the Series S still had the edge at the time. So in the US, at least, it looks like the X has pulled ahead.
Overall, though, spending in September was down 44% year-over-year across all hardware in its lowest point since 2019. Xbox hardware sales were down 54%, PlayStation was down 45%, and the Nintendo Switch was down 23%. The PS5 was the best-seller in both unit and dollar sales, 40% of PS5 unit sales in September and 18% of PS5 sales life-to-date were digital. And the PlayStation Portable was the best-selling accessory of the month, with 3% of all PS5 owners in the US having bought one.
As for content, spending was down 6% year-over year, but it was a hoppin' month for game releases. EA Sports FC 25 debuted at #1, followed by Astro Bot at #2, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom at #4 (excluding digital sales), NBA 2K25 at #7 (also excluding digital), and NHL 25 at #9. Space Marine 2 debuted at #18, not including digital sales, and was third in total MAUs on Steam in September per Circana.
Also notable was the resurgence on the charts of Dead Rising, which leaped from #502 last month to #11.
- EA Sports FC 25
- Astro Bot
- Madden NFL 25
- The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom*
- EA Sports College Football 25
- Star Wars: Outlaws
- NBA 2K25*
- Hogwarts Legacy
- NHL 25
- God of War: Ragnarok
- Dead Rising
- Final Fantasy XVI
- Elden Ring
- Minecraft*
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)
- Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
- Age of Mythology
- Space Marine 2 (Warhammer 40,000)*
- Ghost of Tsushima
- EA Sports MVP Bundle
* Indicates that some or all digital sales are not included in Circana's data. Some publishers, including Nintendo and Take-Two, do not share certain digital data for this report.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
