Starfield Was the Best-Selling Game of September 2023 in the U.S., Even With Game Pass

Starfield managed to hold off Mortal Kombat 1 to be the best-selling game of September 2023 in the U.S., according to new numbers from Circana.

It may not be too surprising that the big new title from Bethesda was popular, but the sales numbers are still pretty impressive considering Starfield debuted Day 1 on Xbox Game Pass. Obviously, that means that there’s a whole swath of people playing Starfield on Game Pass that aren’t factored into these sales numbers.

Starfield debuted officially across PC and Xbox Series X/S on Sept. 6, followed by Mortal Kombat 1 on Sept. 19 for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PC, and Nintendo Switch (although that Switch release didn’t go so well initially). After Starfield and Mortal Kombat 1 are EA Sports FC 24 at the No. 3 spot for September, with Madden NFL 24 (a holdover from August) at No. 4, and Payday 3 at No. 5. See the full chart below.

Diving a little deeper into the Mortal Kombat 1 numbers, dollar sales are “on par” with the April 2019 numbers of Mortal Kombat 11, according to Circana. It was the best-selling game of September 2023 in the U.S. on PlayStation, placing second on Xbox and PC, and third on Nintendo Switch. The top spot for Xbox and PC, unsurprisingly, went to Starfield, with PC being the lead sales platform for the Bethesda release.

Circana also reports that Starfield is now the seventh-best-selling game of 2023 so far, followed right behind by Mortal Kombat 1 at No. 8. Hogwarts Legacy is currently the best-selling game of 2023 so far, followed by The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Elsewhere in the Circana report, PlayStation 5 continues to lead in both unit and dollar sales, with Xbox Series X/S coming in second again. Circana’s Mat Piscatella reports that U.S. consumers spent an overall $4.5 billion on video games in September 2023, up 10% from a year ago.

For more on both Starfield and Mortal Kombat 1, check out our guides for each release.

Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.