These New Releases Gave Game Spending A Much-Needed Boost In March
Overview & Key Takeaways
March 2026 was a pretty great month for new releases, and according to new data by Circana, games like Crimson Desert, MLB The Show 26, and Pokemon Pokopia contributed to a bumper sales period.
Circana's Senior Director, Mat Piscatella, revealed that video game spending in the US reached $5.3 billion in March 2026, a 12% increase when compared to March 2025. New releases such as Crimson Desert, MLB The Show 26, and Pokemon Pokopia were some of the biggest winners, and video game hardware spending grew by 69% to $500 million when compared to a year ago. The Switch 2 remains the second fastest-selling hardware platform in the US, since Circana began tracking in 1995.
"Nintendo Switch 2 drove the overall gain, while PlayStation 5 spending increased by 3% compared to March 2025," Piscatella wrote. "Nintendo Switch 2 was the best-selling hardware platform across units and dollars for both March and the 2026 year-to-date, with PS5 ranking second across both measures and time periods."
March 2026 was a pretty great month for new releases, and according to new data by Circana, games like Crimson Desert, MLB The Show 26, and Pokemon Pokopia contributed to a bumper sales period.
Circana's Senior Director, Mat Piscatella, revealed that video game spending in the US reached $5.3 billion in March 2026, a 12% increase when compared to March 2025. New releases such as Crimson Desert, MLB The Show 26, and Pokemon Pokopia were some of the biggest winners, and video game hardware spending grew by 69% to $500 million when compared to a year ago. The Switch 2 remains the second fastest-selling hardware platform in the US, since Circana began tracking in 1995.
"Nintendo Switch 2 drove the overall gain, while PlayStation 5 spending increased by 3% compared to March 2025," Piscatella wrote. "Nintendo Switch 2 was the best-selling hardware platform across units and dollars for both March and the 2026 year-to-date, with PS5 ranking second across both measures and time periods."
Overall, five new releases ranked among the top seven best-selling games of March--MLB: The Show, WWE 2K26, Marathon, Pokemon Pokopia, and Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection. It is worth noting that Circana is only tracking physical copies sold of Pokemon Pokopia, as Nintendo has not shared the digital sales data of the cozy life-sim. What we do know is that as of March 12, Pokemon Pokopia reached 2.2 million units sold in four days, according to The Pokemon Company and Nintendo. Crimson Desert has also done well, reaching 3 million in sales after less than a week, and developer Pearl Abyss says that the game has sold over 5 million copies in less than a month.
Resident Evil Requiem now ranks among the top five best-selling Resident Evil games in all-time US dollar sales--just behind Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 4 (2023), Resident Evil: Village, and the original Resident Evil 4-- and the PC port of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach was also well-received. The game re-entered Circana's top 20 chart for the month, with the PC version accounting for 85% of its sales that month.
Top 20 Best-Selling Games In the US for March 2026
(Physical and full-game digital)
- MLB: The Show 26 (Digital sales not tracked)
- Resident Evil: Requiem
- WWE 2K26
- Marathon
- Pokemon: Pokopia (Digital sales not tracked)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
- Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection
- NBA 2K26
- Minecraft (Digital sales on Nintendo platforms not tracked)
- EA Sports FC 26
- Grand Theft Auto 5
- Battlefield 6
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- Ghost of Yotei
- Crimson Desert (Digital sales not tracked)
- Helldivers 2
- Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
- Pokemon Legends: Z-A (Digital sales not tracked)
- Mario Kart World (Digital sales not tracked)
- Madden NFL 26
