According to the UK Monthly Charts, 75% of games sold in August were digital downloads

In the UK, 1.74 million video game copies were purchased in August, marking a slight reduction of 1.5% compared to the previous year, according to GSD data.

August was relatively uneventful for game sales (note that data for this market ends on August 24th and does not include Star Wars Outlaws). Take-Two Interactive had a notable month, with Rockstar’s GTA 5 leading the charts at No.1 and GTA Online at No.4. In addition, 2K Games, another label from Take-Two, showed strong results with titles like Borderlands, Mafia, and WWE making the Top Ten.

Borderlands re-entered the rankings due to promotional efforts, likely linked to the upcoming Borderlands movie and the unveiling of Borderlands 4. Specifically, Borderlands 3 secured the No.3 position, New Tales From The Borderlands reached No.6, and the original Borderlands landed at No.12.

During August, 75% of game sales from major publishers in the UK were made digitally, reflecting a 10% increase from the previous August.

The top-performing new release for the month was Madden NFL 25, which ranked No.41. After two weeks on the market, sales were 31.5% lower than its predecessor. This installment contended with EA’s own College Football title, which became available in July.

The original TimeSplitters games returned to PlayStation with additional trophy support, though not as remasters. TimeSplitters 2 appeared at No.218, TimeSplitters: Future Perfect at No.229, and the original TimeSplitters at No.326.

Meanwhile, remastered versions of Doom and Doom 2 debuted at No.241, with owners of the original games receiving free upgrades. Concord, a notable PlayStation disappointment, was the 261st best-seller in August and has since been removed from sale.

Game consoles continue to see sluggish sales

Sales of gaming consoles in the UK were just under 75,000 units, a decrease of 3% from the previous month, and 45% compared to the same month last year, based on GfK figures.

PS5 experienced a slight increase in sales of 4% from July, though it was 57% lower than August of the prior year.

Sales for the Nintendo Switch dropped by 10% from July and was 30% lower than last year’s numbers at this time.

The Xbox Series consoles sold almost the same quantity in August as in July but witnessed a 22% drop compared to the previous August, ranking slightly above the Switch. Both consoles have alternated between second and third spots all year.

Accessory sales included 516,774 controllers and related items sold in August, a decline of 4.5% from July and 9.6% year-over-year.

DualSense controllers continued their dominance in sales, with the White model being the top-selling accessory of the year so far, followed by the Midnight Black variant.

From a revenue standpoint, the more expensive PlayStation Portal has been the best-selling accessory of the year, despite being ranked No.6 in unit sales this week.

UK GSD August 2024 Top 10 (Digital and Physical)

The GSD digital sales data includes figures from participating companies selling through PC digital platforms, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Nintendo Eshop. Major participants include Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, CD Projekt, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group (including Gearbox, Koch Media, Saber Interactive), Focus Entertainment, Kepler, Konami, Marvelous Games, Microids, Microsoft (including Bethesda), Milestone, Nacon, Paradox Interactive, Quantic Dream, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Tencent, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros. Notably, Nintendo and 505 Games do not participate, along with several smaller studios.