The summer gaming drought has officially ended as we enter the fall gaming season! With August having come and gone, we’re officially in the thick of it with an onslaught of games like Spider-Man, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Assassin’s Creed, Call of Duty, Red Dead Redemption 2, and more.
August was still a pretty good month for games despite being part of the typically empty summer season. We had the annual Madden release which came out on top for sales, Monster Hunter: World finally hit PC, and nearly a decade after its original release, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 had a strong resurgence.
Yes, that’s right, 2009’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was in the top 10 best selling games of August 2018 as the only last gen game on the list. If you somehow missed it, the acclaimed FPS became backward compatible on Xbox One last month after years of begging from fans. With the exception of Call of Duty Classic, every Call of Duty game put on home consoles is now playable on Xbox One, the only console that can boast this thanks to its backward compatible feature.
You can view the full list of the top 20 best selling games of last month as well as a further breakdown of the list below.
Top 20 best selling games of August
- Madden NFL 19**
- Monster Hunter: World
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Mario Kart 8*
- Naruto To Boruto: Shinobi Striker
- God of War
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild*
- Super Mario Odyssey*
- Minecraft
- Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy
- Far Cry 5
- Monster Hunter: Generations Ultimate
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Mario Tennis Aces*
- Overwatch**
- Lego The Incredibles
- We Happy Few*
- The Crew 2
*No digital sales
**No PC digital sales
Madden made a strong comeback this year as well. While it’s pretty much always the best selling game of August each year, 19’s sales are the highest in the series in the last 6 years. “Madden NFL 19 was the best-selling game of August 2018,” said NPD analyst Mat Piscatella. “Launch month sales of Madden NFL 19 are the highest achieved since the launch of Madden NFL 13.”
Grand Theft Auto V is still hanging tough after five years on the market, refusing to give up that top five spot once again. We’ve genuinely lost count of how many times this game has been in the top five let alone top ten but Rockstar’s open-world crime thriller is still raking in countless amounts of money.
“GTA V ranked as the fourth best-selling game of August 2018 and is now the fifth best-selling title of 2018 year to date,” said Piscatella. “August marks Grand Theft Auto V’s 60th month in market, and is the 59th month Grand Theft Auto V has appeared on the best-sellers chart. Grand Theft Auto V remains the best-selling game in tracked history.”
Rainbow Six: Siege is also managing to have a strong hold on the market by cracking the top five again. The game has had a steady hold on the charts since releasing in 2015 thanks to Ubisoft’s steady stream of free content updates and online support. It’s truly remarkable that this online-only game has continued to thrive for such an extended period of time.
An interesting note to make is the Bioshock-esque We Happy Few launched in August but just barely made it into the top 20 best selling games of the month. Mixed reviews from critics and somewhat unclear messaging about what the game is over the last few years may have prevented the game from doing really major numbers. While we don’t have exact numbers, it’s usually not a great sign that games from over 5 – 9 years ago are outselling a brand new release.
You can view the breakdown of the best selling games in 2018 and by platform below.
Top 10 best-selling games of 2018 so far
- Far Cry 5
- God of War
- Monster Hunter: World
- Madden NFL 19**
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Dragon Ball: Fighterz
- Mario Kart 8
- NBA 2K18
- Super Mario Odyssey
Top 10 best-selling games of the last 12 months
- Call of Duty: WWII
- NBA 2K18
- Destiny 2**
- Super Mario Odyssey*
- Far Cry 5
- Star Wars: Battlefront II**
- Madden NFL 18**
- Assassin’s Creed: Origins
- God of War
- FIFA 18**
Xbox One
- Madden NFL 19
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
- Grand Theft Auto V
- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds
- Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy
- Overwatch
- Naruto To Boruto: Shinobi Striker
- Far Cry 5
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Star Wars: Battlefront II
PlayStation 4
- Madden NFL 19
- God of War
- Naruto To Boruto: Shinobi Striker
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege
- Horizon Zero Dawn
- Detroit: Become Human
- Far Cry 5
- MLB 18: The Show
- We Happy Few*
Nintendo Switch*
- Mario Kart 8
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Monster Hunter: Generations Ultiamte
- Mario Tennis Aces
- Octopath Traveler
- Splatoon 2
- Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
- Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
- Minecraft
3DS*
- Pokemon Ultra Sun
- WarioWare: Gold
- Pokemon: Ultra Moon
- Mario Kart 7
- Super Smash Bros.
- Super Mario 3D Land
- Minecraft
- Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
- Super Mario Maker
- Mario Party: The Top 100
