By Kotaku | Created at 2026-09-18 16:47:18 | Updated at 2026-09-18 18:48:46
2 hours ago
Marvel’s Wolverine has been selling just fine in its first three days since launch. That’s according to market data firm Alinea Analytics, which estimates the PlayStation 5 exclusive is already one of the platform’s top-grossing new games of 2026. It’s also claimed to be selling faster than Sony’s other recent first-party prestige blockbusters, including 2025’s Death Stranding 2 and Ghost of Yotei.
“Obviously, social media algorithms reward and amplify outrage–manufactured and real–creating a cycle of negativity that isn’t representative of the situation,” Alinea’s head of market research, Rhys Elliott, shared on X on September 18. “The situation is that Wolverine is now the #6 top-grossing PS5 game of the year, despite only being on the market for a few days.”
The firm ranked estimates of three-day revenue for PS5 games so far this year as follows:
- Resident Evil Requiem – $231M
- 007 First Light – $199M
- 2K27 – $164M
- Crimson Desert – $160M
- Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced – $133M
- Marvel’s Wolverine – $130M
- EA Collect Football 27 – $116M
That comes out to roughly 1.9 million sales for Wolverine, according to Alinea Analytics, which is strong when you consider it’s a PS5 exclusive. Here’s how that measures up against Alinea’s estimates for other recent PlayStation Studios game launches:
- Ghost of Yōtei made $121.9M, 6.3% less than Wolverine
- Death Stranding 2 made $51.7M, 60.3% less
- Astro Bot made $34.6M, 73.3% less
- Stellar Blade made $32.7M, 74.9% less
- Rise of the Ronin made $25.7M, 80.3% less
- Helldivers 2 made $18.9M, 85.5% less
Elliot draws two conclusions from this data. The first is that Wolverine is performing strongly despite some initial lackluster reviews and a weak aggregate rating on Metacritic, and some viral rage-bait around the game’s QTEs, objective markers, and other on-rails gameplay elements. It’s initial momentum is lagging only Spider-Man 2, which makes sense given the popularity differential between the two comic-book icons.
At the same time, it’s not clear what Wolverine‘s long-term tail will be as more players go hands-on with it and the online discussions continue. While none of that should matter for anyone’s enjoyment of the game or their critical appraisal of it, Insomniac Games’ latest release will be a closely watched bellwether for measuring the current health and sustainability of the existing Sony blockbuster model.
A lot is riding on its capacity to consistently turn out high-quality first-party exclusives that sell consoles and convince players to upgrade to new hardware, especially heading into what could be an exceptionally pricey PS6 generation.
