Welcome back to the Canadian edition of Charting in the Clouds, our monthly look at Canada’s best-selling games and the latest Canadian game sales trends. Thanks to new data from the Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESA) and Circana, we’ve now got a clear snapshot of what Canadians were buying in January 2026.
January’s chart shows a shift at the top as the holiday rush settles. NHL 26 took the first place spot, pushing Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 to second. EA Sports FC 26 and Minecraft held onto their positions in the top five, while Battlefield 6 remained a popular pick for shooter fans. We also saw Code Vein II join the list, showing that there’s still a strong appetite for focused, single-player action even after the busy season.
We’ve included cloud gaming availability again this month. Many of January’s top games can be played in the cloud on platforms like GeForce NOW, Xbox Cloud Gaming, Amazon Luna, and Boosteroid.
Let’s take a closer look at Canada’s top-selling games for January 2026.
Canada’s Top-Selling Games of January 2026
Here’s a look at Canada’s ten top-selling games of January 2026, along with their cloud gaming availability. Some of these titles can be streamed on several services, while others remain tied to local console or PC play.
| Rank | Title | Cloud Gaming Availability | Review link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | NHL 26 | Not available in the cloud | Review |
| 2 | Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 | Boosteroid, GeForce NOW, Xbox Cloud Gaming, airgpu, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | Review |
| 3 | EA Sports FC 26 | Amazon Luna | Review |
| 4 | Minecraft | airgpu, Shadow PC | |
| 5 | Battlefield 6 | GeForce NOW, PlayStation Cloud | Review |
| 6 | NBA 2K26 | Boosteroid, PlayStation Cloud, Xbox Cloud Gaming, airgpu, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | Review |
| 7 | Red Dead Redemption II | Boosteroid, Sora Stream, airgpu, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | |
| 8 | Grand Theft Auto V | Boosteroid, PlayStation Cloud, Sora Stream, Xbox Cloud Gaming, airgpu, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | |
| 9 | Code Vein II | Boosteroid, airgpu, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | Review |
| 10 | Forza Horizon 5 | Boosteroid, GeForce NOW, PlayStation Cloud, Xbox Cloud Gaming, airgpu, CloudDeck, Shadow PC | Review |
Hockey Takes the Lead Again
January’s results show that hockey remains the king of the winter months in Canada. NHL 26 moving into first place isn’t a shock when you consider how much time people put into the series during the peak of the season. Even with Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 right behind it, the local preference for EA’s hockey sim stayed strong enough to take the lead.
EA Sports FC 26 and Battlefield 6 staying in the top five proves that yearly sports releases and big shooters still drive the most volume. Both of these titles are easy to jump into through cloud services if you don’t want to deal with local installs, which is becoming a more common way to play. NBA 2K26 in sixth gives Take 2 Interactive a solid presence in the sports category too.
The back half of the list is where things get interesting. Red Dead Redemption II and Grand Theft Auto V continue to show up year after year, proving that Rockstar’s open worlds have a longer life than almost anything else on the market. Code Vein II landing in ninth is a great result for Bandai Namco, showing that the follow-up found its audience quickly after launch.
Minecraft in fourth and Forza Horizon 5 in tenth round out the list. Forza hanging around the top ten is likely tied to its steady updates and broad appeal, giving more people a chance to jump into Mexico for the first time. Whether you prefer racing, shooting, or building, the January chart shows a healthy mix of genres across the country.
January 2026 Wrap Up and Look Ahead
January felt like a proper transition month. Big names showed up at the top, familiar sports releases refused to leave, and you could almost sense people locking in what they’d play after the holidays. NHL 26 leading the chart made sense, but it was interesting to see Code Vein II climb into the top ten, showing that Canadians aren’t just sticking to the biggest annual franchises. Shooters and sports games shared most of the spotlight as the year opened up.
What makes this list interesting is how much of it is already available through cloud gaming. Outside of a few titles, you can play most of these games on a phone, tablet, or laptop without needing a dedicated console under the TV. As we move further into 2026, that balance between hardware-locked games and cloud-accessible titles is something we’ll keep watching closely. December’s results gave us a solid baseline, and January’s results show that balance shifting even more toward accessibility.
Now that we’re into early 2026, this breakdown works as a clean snapshot of where things landed at the start of the year. More cloud platforms are pulling in games like Call of Duty, Battlefield, and NBA 2K, while other releases remain tied to their own hardware. Each monthly chart ends up showing that split pretty clearly: some games are easy to jump into through cloud gaming almost anywhere, others still live on one console in your setup.
What about you? Which of these January games did you play, and did you jump in through the cloud or stick to local hardware?
