Top 20 bestselling PS4 games on PSN in August 2017

Sony have released a list of the top selling PlayStation Network games in the UK and the US for August 2017. For the first time since its release the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy isn’t in top position, with Madden 18 and Ninja Theoroy’s Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice ending Crash’s two month reign at the top of the charts.

Madden 18, EA’s long-running American football simulation, soared straight to the top of the US charts, relegating Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice to second place, but Ninja Theory’s action adventure fared better in the UK.

Madden games have always had limited appeal in the UK, where American football is a niche sport, enabling Hellblade to take top spot – a significant achievement for Ninja Theory, an independent publisher.

The extent of Ninja Theory’s achievement is put into context by the fact that two other new releases, Sonic Mania and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, place below Hellblade in both the US and UK charts.

Sonic Mania charted at three in the US and eight in the UK, while Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, a spin-off from the main Uncharted series featuring two female leads, placed at five in the US and two in the UK.

All told, it was a good month for new games, with four of the top five US games (Madden NFL 18, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, Sonic Mania and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy) new releases and the top two titles in the UK (Hellblade and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy) fresh on the shelves.

That said, the remainder of the chart highlighted the potential for games with a strong online multiplayer platform to achieve enduring sales.

Rocket League and Minecraft sit in the middle of both the US and UK charts, while Grand Theft Auto V is still as high as sixth in the US charts three years after its PS4 release.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege also continues to perform well, sitting in the top five of both the UK and US charts, while popular indie RPG Undertale deserves a mention for making it to eight in the US chart.

A good month for new games, then – particularly Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice – but the PSN charts also highlight the increasing ability of games to sustain high sales for a prolonged period.