The numbers are in for May 2026, and 007 First Light pulled off something no James Bond game has ever done: it topped the US monthly sales charts outright. IO Interactive's take on a young Bond beat out every other release for the month, and in doing so set the highest full game dollar sales in the history of the franchise. Not the highest for a Bond game this year. The highest ever.
Industry analyst Mat Piscatella confirmed the figures, placing 007 First Light at number one for May with Forza Horizon 6 in second, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight in third, and Subnautica 2 rounding out fourth. The game also claimed the top spot specifically among PS5 titles for the month, making it the best-selling PlayStation game in May 2026.
Where First Light sits in the year-to-date picture
Here's the thing: landing first in a single month is one thing, but holding a top-5 spot for the entire year after a relatively recent release is a different level of performance. Resident Evil Requiem continues to lead the 2026 year-to-date chart, followed by Crimson Desert in second and MLB: The Show 26 in third. 007 First Light sits fourth, ahead of Forza Horizon 6 in fifth.
For context, the only other new May release to crack the year-to-date top 10 is LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight at seventh. The rest of that list is held by titles that have been building sales since earlier in the year, which makes First Light's position even more notable.
The broader May chart also included familiar holdovers: Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream, MLB: The Show 26, Crimson Desert, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and Mario Kart World all placed inside the top 10 alongside the month's new releases.
The market behind the numbers
Total US video game spending for May 2026 hit $4.2 billion, a 3 percent increase over May 2025. Year-to-date spending through May now sits at $23 billion, running 4 percent ahead of the same period last year.
Console content led the charge, with spending up 25 percent compared to May 2025. PC content was up 15 percent year-on-year, and subscription spending grew 11 percent. The category performance paints a picture of a market that's genuinely expanding, not just redistributing the same dollars.
Piscatella noted that Xbox is currently tracking a distant third in hardware unit sales among major manufacturers, though higher per-unit revenue means dollar sales still grew in May despite the unit drop. Whether that trade-off holds long-term remains an open question.
What this means for players still in the game
First Light's chart performance signals that there's a real audience here, and IO Interactive has every reason to support the game with post-launch content. Players still working through the experience will want to make sure they're not missing collectibles along the way. The 007 First Light all 92 collectible locations guide covers all 36 cards, 23 intel items, 14 mementos, 10 postcards, and 9 legacy items across every chapter.
For anyone chasing completion or just getting started, the full 007 First Light guide collection has everything from suit unlocks to chapter-by-chapter breakdowns. A game performing at this level tends to get ongoing support, so there's good reason to dig in now before the meta shifts.
