Madden NFL 23 and Saints Row were the top two best selling games in the US in August, which shouldn’t be a surprise as they both debuted last month. But the third best-selling game is one you might not immediately expect, given that it’s four years old: Marvel’s Spider-Man.
Spider-Man did so well in August because it finally got a PC release via Steam on the 12th. It’s the remastered version, including all the prior DLC, and given that this is the first time it’s been released on something other than Sony hardware, this proved an enticing pickup for many (and the continued release of more Steam Decks probably didn’t hurt either). It was enough to propel Spider-Man from No. 84 on the NPD charts in July to No.3 for August, above both Elden Ring and MultiVersus.
According to NPD analyst Mat Piscatella, Spider-Man was also the month’s best-selling game across all tracked Steam titles, and was a key reason why the total market’s PC content segment is up year-over year. This is also possibly for gamers hoping Sony might deliver more exclusives onto PC at some point in the future:
“Sony’s PC ports have been strong performers,” Piscatella says. “Looking at some recent history, God of War jumped from #146 on the December 2021 chart to #5 in January 2022 with the launch of its PC version, while Days Gone also had a big spike with its PC release, climbing to #20 on the May 2021 charts after ranking at #247 in April of that year. PC has been a fantastic platform for Sony not only in sales of the PC releases themselves, but also in how these releases have had a positive halo effect on the properties involved. Wins all around, really.”
Also in software, Madden 23’s No.1 spot is the 23rd year in a row that a Madden game has been the top-performer in its release month. Soul Hackers 2, another new title, debuted at No.10 on the PlayStation rankings and No.15 overall. We also saw Horizon II: Forbidden West ranked No.12 thanks to sales – it’s the fourth best-selling game of 2022 so far, behind Pokemon Legends: Arceus at No.3, LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga at No.2, and (yes, you guessed it) Elden Ring at No.1.
In hardware, the PS5 was the best-selling console of August in both unit and dollar sales, and is the top seller for the year so far in dollar sales. The Switch still leads in unit sales for the year, though the PS5 may have a chance to catch it before the year’s end now that hardware availability is improving significantly.
Overall games spending was down 5% year over year to $4.1 billion, but this number is slightly higher than the $4.07 total from August 2020, indicating that consumer games spending is back up to the overall level it was during the height of lockdowns.
The following are the top 20 best-selling games for the month of August in the US in terms of dollar sales:
Madden NFL 23Saints Row (2022)Marvel’s Spider-ManElden RingMultiVersusMario Kart 8MinecraftLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker SagaMLB: The Show 22Xenoblade Chronicles 3Digimon SurviveHorizon 2: Forbidden WestCall of Duty: VanguardFar Cry 6Soul Hackers 2Super Smash Bros. UltimateGran Turismo 7Kirby and the Forgotten LandThe Elder Scrolls V: SkyrimPokemon Legends: Arceus
(Nintendo does not report digital Switch sales, thus they are not factored in for any of the above).
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
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