SBJ Gaming: The Show 26 enjoys series’ second-strongest debut

I’m actually leaving SBJ Gaming Master Control for a day (aka my house in the San Francisco Bay area) and moderating a panel at iicon 2026 on Wednesday at the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas. It’s a noon session about MLB: The Show with Sony’s Ramone Russell and MLB’s Peter Banks. If you see me wandering around (look for my green vest) in a desperate search for coffee, please say hello!

Sony’s MLB: The Show 26 enjoyed the franchise’s second-strongest launch since the series’ debut in 2006, per data from market research firm Circana.

MLB: The Show 26 was the top-selling game for March, and it’s already the second-highest selling game of the year behind Capcom’s Resident Evil: Requiem. It was also the bestselling game on PlayStation. It slightly outperformed MLB: The Show 2021’s sales (this was right before the COVID shutdowns of the pandemic era, which featured a number of video game sales records). One big difference: In 2021, MLB: The Show wasn’t on Nintendo platforms.

As for the “why” behind The Show’s debut, several factors are likely buoying its launch. First, it included the College World Series with 11 teams as part of the “Road to the Show” mode, a well-received addition. (My favorite new feature since the Storylines mode chronicling the Negro Leagues debut with MLB: The 23.) It also has a World Baseball Classic mode, another popular addition that’s lifting baseball sales in a number of categories outside gaming. No word yet if cover athlete Aaron Judge goosed sales.

It was also a strong debut for WWE 2K26, which launched as the No. 3 selling game of March (and also trails MLB: The Show 26 on the bestselling game of the year chart). It bodyslammed its Xbox competitors, outselling all other games in March (a platform on which The Show does not appear).

Noteworthy among other sports games, NBA 2K26 remains in the top 10 of monthly sales, coming in at No. 8, with EA Sports FC 2026 clinging to the 10th slot. It’ll be interesting to monitor FC 2026’s performance during the World Cup. While it lacks FIFA branding, major events tend to give sports games sales a lift. Madden NFL 26 finished 20th in sales.

An interesting hardware note: Nintendo’s Switch 2 is the second-fastest selling hardware platform in the U.S. going back to when Circana first started tracking sales in 1995. Through its first 10 months on the market, the Switch 2 is outselling the original Switch — one of the most popular consoles Nintendo ever made — by a 12% margin.

As always, these sales figures paint a good but incomplete picture of the market. Circana doesn’t receive sales figures for Xbox and Switch’s digital platforms, so it’s a safe bet that MLB: The Show’s debut performance is even stronger than it appears.

Hat tip (or is that trick?) to Quinn Schmidt, who is repping USA Lacrosse. A recent conversation with him veered into video game territory, where he dropped some knowledge (groundshaking to my kids) that a lacrosse game is not only in development but launched Friday for PlayStation and Xbox (additional hat tip to Mike Straw at Insider Gaming). Lacrosse 26 is from Crosse Studios, which has a legacy of making games for the sport for console and mobile platforms (its last big game was in 2018). This recalls a conversation I had with a former EA Sports bigwig who told me a couple of years ago — one of the biggest requests from players was for a lacrosse game. My kids (the oldest is a high school midfielder, while my youngest will be a freshman goalie next season) are going to find quite the surprise on our PlayStation when they get home from school Friday.

The video game industry is bracing for Grand Theft Auto VI’s launch. A few folks have been asking me if sports gaming should feel threatened. I don’t see GTA’s launch hurting sports gaming too much. It’s coming out Nov. 19, some weeks after the College Football, Madden NFL, NBA 2K, FC and NHL series launch. Could it carve into their sales tails? Maybe. But sports gamers are a loyal lot; even those who wait to buy the annual releases on discount still buy it. I’d be more concerned about GTA gobbling up playing time in November and December than sales.

The strong sales of the Switch 2 tell me two things: One, more sports gaming publishers should be releasing games on that console. Right now, it’s the one platform showing any real growth, especially with economic and industry headwinds making hardware development far more expensive than ever. And two, Nintendo should publish more of its Mario family of fun sports games. These come out in dribs and drabs. Also: Is it time for Mario to get a football game? I’d be considering this if I were Nintendo. (And an aside: We need more futuristic football takes, like the ol’ Cyberball series. Robots playing football — who wouldn’t love it?)

• The ESL FaceIt Group added gaming chair maker AutoFull as its official chair sponsor for the ESL Pro Tour, a Counter-Strike 2 circuit, for the 2026 and 2027 seasons.
• The Global Gaming League is adding the VR version of Fruit Ninja for its “SZN Zero Championship” featuring Howie Mandel’s “Howie Do It Gaming” facing singer/songwriter Ne-Yo’s “Gentlemen’s Gaming.” It debuts Friday on the league’s YouTube channel.
• DreamHack’s Atlanta tour stop May 15-17 will feature the “Sour Punch Arcade” through a sponsorship with the candy brand (my youngest loves it, but it’s just too dang sour for me). This will be a gaming area filled with retro arcade games, challenges and rewards inside the Georgia World Congress Center.
• Esports organization Team Vitality launched a Counter-Strike academy team, Vitality Academy, an effort to train the next generation of players.
• This week, new Xbox boss Asha Sharma recast the brand’s vision in an effort to address frustration from the platform’s players around its direction in recent years. Kotaku analyzes Sharma’s message.
• Meanwhile, GamesIndustry.biz reports Xbox has already made one move that should please some customers ... and likely anger others: Lowering the price of Xbox Game Pass but also removing Call of Duty from the subscription service.
• Mr. Beast’s company is facing a sexual harassment lawsuit, and some of the details of how the firm operates allegedly show an organization missing some key guardrails, as the L.A. Times reports.