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Forums - Sales - July 2026 Circana (NPD) Thread + Predictions

July 2025 Circana (NPD) covers the four-week period from July 5 to August 1 and will be released on August 20 around 6:00 am PT / 9:00 am ET / 2:00 pm UK.

Since Circana (NPD) leaks don't happen nearly as often as it used to and hardware revenue is something we do get, be sure to include revenue in your predictions.

Feel free to also predict what you think the top software games will be for the month.

Example prediction:

[Total Hardware Revenue]

  1. [#1 selling console] XXX,000
  2. [#2 selling console] XXX,000
  3. [#3 selling console] XXX,000
  4. [#4 selling console] XXX,000

VGChartz US estimates for July 2025:

  1. NS2 - 456K
  2. PS5 - 177K
  3. NS - 74K
  4. XS - 65K

VGChartz US estimates for June 2026:

  1. NS2 - 355K
  2. PS5 - 171K
  3. XS - 127K
  4. NS - 38K

Possible impact on hardware sales:

  • XS - $100 to $150 price hike on August 1 (People buying before increase)
  • NS2 - $50 price hike on September 1 (People buying before increase)
  • PS5+XS - GTA6 pre-orders

Upcoming release dates for Circana reports:

  • July - Aug 20
  • August - Oct 8
  • September - Oct 22
  • October - Nov 19
  • November - Dec 17
  • December - Jan 21, 2027

RESULTS

Mat providing unit drops for 3 of the platforms would put our estimates around:

  1. NS2 ~226K
  2. PS5 ~168K
  3. XS ~53K
  4. NS (No unit drop given) - Likely around low 30sK given total hardware spending

Link to the VGhartz article here.

Switch 2 Best-Seller in the US in July 2026, Black Ops 2 Top Selling Game

The Nintendo Switch 2 was the best-selling console in the US for July 2026 in terms of units sold, according to figures from Circana (formerly The NPD Group). Circana includes the dates for the four-week period of July 5 to August 1.

The PlayStation 5 did lead the month in terms of dollar sales, while it came in second in terms of units sold. The Xbox Series X|S took third place, followed by the Nintendo Switch in fourth place.

In terms of units sold every platform is down year-on-year. PS5 unit sales dropped six percent compared to July 2025, while Xbox Series X|S declined 18 percent and Switch 2 fell 51 percent.

With 14 months available on the market, the Switch 2 is currently 11 percent ahead of the launch aligned sales pace of the Switch.

"The hardware market comparables continue to be impacted by the record-setting June 2025 launch of Nintendo Switch 2. However, the challenges extend far beyond simple cyclicality," said Circana Executive Director and Video Game Industry Analyst Mat Piscatella.

"Higher hardware prices driven by the RAM and component crisis have significantly impacted the selling rates of both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series, with a price hike for Nintendo Switch 2 hardware coming on September 1st, 2026."

Overall spending on video games in July decreased 10 percent year-on-year from $5.04 billion to $4.53 billion. Spending on video game content was down nine percent from $4.45 billion to $4.07 billion, while video game hardware sales decreased 29 percent from $395 million to $282 million. Spending on accessories decreased six percent from $189 million to $178 million.

In terms of 2026 total sales, overall spending on video games is down two percent year-on-year from $32.77 billion to $32.02 billion. Spending on video game content is down one percent from $28.76 billion to $28.38 billion, while video game hardware sales dropped 12 percent from $2.55 billion to $2.25 billion. Spending on accessories is down five percent from $1.46 billion to $1.39 billion.

"U.S. video game spending dropped 10% in July, to $4.5 billion, despite the debut of several hit new releases," said Piscatella.

He added, "Mobile content was the biggest driver of the overall decline, with both Console and PC content also fell year-on-year. Hardware spending fell to a July low not seen since 2020."

The rerelease of the original two Call of Duty: Black Ops games on the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 helped boost the games. Call of Duty: Black Ops II was the best-selling game in terms of dollar sales, while Call of Duty: Black Ops came in fifth place.

The top 10 best-selling games of the month did feature six new releases.

EA Sports College Football 27 debuted in second place. If sales of the EA Sports MVP Bundle (2026), which took fourth place by itself, were combined it would have taken the top spot for the month.

Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced debuted in fourth place, Halo: Campaign Evolved debuted in sixth place, Splatoon Raiders debuted in seventh place, and Echoes of Aincrad: Sword Art Online debuted in eighth place.

Here are the top 10 best-selling games in terms of dollars for July 2026:

Here are the top 10 best-selling games in July year-to-date:

Last edited by trunkswd - 4 days ago

VGChartz Sales Analyst and Writer - William D'Angelo - I stream on Twitch and have my own YouTube channel discussing gaming sales and news, as well as posting random gaming content. Follow me on Bluesky.

I post and adjust the VGChartz hardware estimates, with help from Machina.

Writer of the Sales Comparison | Monthly Hardware Breakdown Monthly Sales Analysis | Marketshare Features, as well as daily news on the Video Game Industry.

Around the Network

  • NS2 - 350K
  • PS5 - 150K
  • XS - 150K
  • NS - 35K



My primary threads:

Ultimate Showdowns: JP 2023 / JP 2024 / JP 2025 / JP 2026 / 2026 / 2025 / 2024 / 2023 / 20222021

Lifetime Showdowns: Global / Regional / Historical / YOY Charts / 150M+ Club Chart

PS5 vs SW2 in 2026Biggest months, years and holidays / When will the Switch pass 160M? / LT expectations of: Switch / PS5 / XBSX / Switch 2

NS2 - 315K
PS5 - 148K
XS - 132K
NS - 35K
Nex - 16K



NS2 285k
PS5 136k
XS 130k
NS1 32k

Last edited by tak13 - on 13 August 2026

Report should be out tomorrow at 6am PT / 9am ET / 2pm UK



VGChartz Sales Analyst and Writer - William D'Angelo - I stream on Twitch and have my own YouTube channel discussing gaming sales and news, as well as posting random gaming content. Follow me on Bluesky.

I post and adjust the VGChartz hardware estimates, with help from Machina.

Writer of the Sales Comparison | Monthly Hardware Breakdown Monthly Sales Analysis | Marketshare Features, as well as daily news on the Video Game Industry.

Around the Network

We also got an update on upcoming Circana report release dates:

  • July - Aug 20
  • August - Oct 8
  • September - Oct 22
  • October - Nov 19
  • November - Dec 17
  • December - Jan 21, 2027

August isn't dropping until October. So will be a bit of a gap. 



VGChartz Sales Analyst and Writer - William D'Angelo - I stream on Twitch and have my own YouTube channel discussing gaming sales and news, as well as posting random gaming content. Follow me on Bluesky.

I post and adjust the VGChartz hardware estimates, with help from Machina.

Writer of the Sales Comparison | Monthly Hardware Breakdown Monthly Sales Analysis | Marketshare Features, as well as daily news on the Video Game Industry.

trunkswd said:

We also got an update on upcoming Circana report release dates:

  • July - Aug 20
  • August - Oct 8
  • September - Oct 22
  • October - Nov 19
  • November - Dec 17
  • December - Jan 21, 2027

August isn't dropping until October. So will be a bit of a gap. 

I wonder why there are some months they need two months instead of one to compilate all the sales data



October data releasing on GTA 6 launh day is interesting.

For numbers I think they will be similar to last month with the exception of Xbox which I expect will get a modest boost. It was leading GS for some time prior to the price hike. Would be interesting to see if it can take the PS5. After that expect sales to be grim. That is until November. Highly doubt the PS5 will be able to maintain stock for the duration at which point Xbox should start selling until it sells out too.



trunkswd said:

We also got an update on upcoming Circana report release dates:

  • July - Aug 20
  • August - Oct 8
  • September - Oct 22
  • October - Nov 19
  • November - Dec 17
  • December - Jan 21, 2027

August isn't dropping until October. So will be a bit of a gap. 

Hey just realized I you never post a prediction.



CosmicSex said:
trunkswd said:

We also got an update on upcoming Circana report release dates:

  • July - Aug 20
  • August - Oct 8
  • September - Oct 22
  • October - Nov 19
  • November - Dec 17
  • December - Jan 21, 2027

August isn't dropping until October. So will be a bit of a gap. 

Hey just realized I you never post a prediction.

As the one who does the numbers I don't want it to look like I am cheating by having the numbers closer to my predictions. Even if all I care about is having the estimates as accurate as possible. 



VGChartz Sales Analyst and Writer - William D'Angelo - I stream on Twitch and have my own YouTube channel discussing gaming sales and news, as well as posting random gaming content. Follow me on Bluesky.

I post and adjust the VGChartz hardware estimates, with help from Machina.

Writer of the Sales Comparison | Monthly Hardware Breakdown Monthly Sales Analysis | Marketshare Features, as well as daily news on the Video Game Industry.