Marvel's Wolverine launched September 15 and has already moved an estimated 1.9 million copies, generating around $130 million in revenue — but Sony hasn't made an official sales announcement yet. Those numbers come from Rhys Elliott, head of market analysis at Alinea Analytics, who shared the estimate on social media.
Elliott notes that roughly 22.9% of that revenue came from physical sales — a detail worth flagging given Sony's plan to stop producing PlayStation discs by 2028. The game is currently the top-performing new PlayStation Studios PS5 release of 2025, sitting ahead of MLB The Show, Marathon, Saros, and Marvel Tōkon. It's also already surpassed the lifetime PS5 sales of Death Stranding 2. That said, it's tracking well behind Spider-Man 2, which sold over 2.5 million copies in its first 24 hours alone — a record that Helldivers 2 has since overtaken. For comparison, Ghost of Yotei sold 3.3 million units in its first 32 days according to Sony's official figures.
The mixed critical reception is the main drag on Wolverine's long-term commercial outlook. The game sits at a 77 Metascore, and IGN gave it a 6/10, calling the combat satisfying but thin by the end. Elliott put it bluntly: "Unlike Spider-Man, which reviewed insanely well and has stayed evergreen for years, this one's tail will be shorter and lumpier, but still there." He added: "Wolverine will keep selling, just not at Spider-Man heights. Spidey's been evergreen. Wolverine will be more ever-yellow." Insomniac has already said it plans to "further refine the player experience" based on player feedback — one target being the much-mocked scent trail mechanic, which players have dubbed "fart gas" and want the option to disable entirely.
Elliott sees a few natural sales bumps ahead: Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters in December and features the X-Men, the holiday gift-buying season will give the game a lift, and GTA 6's November launch is expected to expand the PS5 install base significantly. Whether those factors are enough to push Wolverine into Spider-Man territory is another question entirely.
Sources (1)
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