Grand Theft Auto 5 denies Saints Row No.1 in August | European Monthly Charts

Saints Row has spent much of its life living in the shadow of the GTA series, so it's somewhat inevitable that the latest game in the series -- simply titled Saints Row -- narrowly lost out to GTA 5 in the European August charts.

Despite the arrival of Saints Row, plus a number of other titles such as Sony's Spider-Man Remastered on PC (No.6) and Sega's Two Point Campus (No.16), game sales were down 12.4% compared with the same period in 2021.

The biggest game of August 2021 was also Grand Theft Auto 5.

Overall, 7.7 million video games (digital and physical) were sold across tracked European territories. GTA 5 was the biggest digital seller, while Nintendo Switch Sports was the best-selling physical game (note: Nintendo does not share digital data with the charts company). 3.2 million game sales were via physical stores during August.

One game that doubled in sales during August (compared with July) was Gran Turismo 7. This was due to retail promotions (particularly the boxed version of the game) and an increase in PS5 console stock.

Nintendo Switch keeps ahead of PlayStation in Europe

Across tracked European markets, 310,000 games consoles were sold last month, narrowly led by Nintendo Switch. Note: Major European markets Germany and UK are missing from this data. For details on the UK console market, click here.

Overall, this represents a 19% drop in console sales compared with August 2021.

PS5 had its second-best month after June, with stock levels continuing to be significantly higher than what the machine was managing during the first quarter of the year. Meanwhile, it was the fourth best month for the Xbox Series S and X platforms.

Over in accessories, this market continues to be led by the popular PS5 DualSense controller. 1.18 million add-on products were sold across Europe last month, a decline of 9% over the same period in 2021.

0.99 million points/wallet cards were also sold across tracked markets, a decline of -5% compared with August 2021.

European GSD August 2022 Top 20 (Digital + Physical)

* Digital data unavailable

GSD digital data includes games from participating companies sold via Steam, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Nintendo Eshop. Major participating companies are Activision Blizzard, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Electronic Arts, Embracer Group (including Gearbox, Koch Media, Sabre Interactive), Focus Entertainment, Konami, Marvellous Games, Microids, Microsoft (including Bethesda), Milestone, Nacon, Paradox Interactive, Quantic Dream, Sega, Sony, Square Enix, Take-Two, Ubisoft and Warner Bros. Nintendo and 505 Games are the notable absentees, alongside smaller studios.

Digital data includes games sold in Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, UAE ion>and United Kingdom.

Physical data includes all games, but only those sold in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

Console hardware sales cover Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Accessories sales cover the same markets, but doesn't include Switzerland.