We don't usually cover the monthly European software charts here on Push Square — often because there's, well, not really much to write about — but August's results have created quite the headline story. The new Saints Row, which released on the 23rd of the month, was beaten to the top spot by none other than Grand Theft Auto V. You couldn't make it up.
Saints Row as a series has always been compared to Rockstar's juggernaut franchise. It's never had the same kind of success, but after a few instalments, Saints Row had established itself as a comical, sometimes absurd take on the kind of open world formula Gran Theft Auto helped popularise.
The fact that the all-new Saints Row was beaten to the punch by a 'rival' title that's now almost a decade old is quite eye-opening. Obviously we all know how insane GTA 5's commercial pull is — it's very much in a league of its own — but still, could Europe not just cool it on buying GTA 5 for a single month?
But hey, at least Saints Row topped FIFA 22 — and we all know how popular football is on the continent!
[source gamesindustry.biz]
Comments 31
I like GTA as much as the next person but I'm honestly baffled at why it continues to sell so much
Not sure who doesn’t own GTA V by now. It’s both impressive and baffling.
Any GTA game is better than this awful reboot. One of the most techically poor and disapointing games I have ever played. It's not hard to beat Fifa 22 considering Fifa 23 is out at the end of the month!
Good. GTAV and its remaster is better than Saints Row and its crappy remake.
@Member_the_game because people keep buying it is my theory.
Its like with Wii Sports back then. If you look between your Couch cracks you will probably find a copy of GTA V for PS4 haha
The reality is there are certain games and franchises with such a high cachet that they are evergreen. New gamers are created every day and existing gamers buy new systems. Games like GTA, COD, Minecraft & Mario Kart all fit that tag and are so widely beloved they often stay in, or even top, the charts.
As two faced as Jim Ryan’s recent rant about losing COD to a higher bidder was there was a shred of truth buried in there somewhere that games like these are virtually irreplaceable to the larger market
@riceNpea
No ***** Sherlock
@IonMagi your comment made my day 😂
I mean it's clear the highly organized front that formed to attack Saints Row as soon as it was announced and even more so by those those wheels in the industry Take Two greased, but cmon guys and gals.
The game has been in the top ten since release a month ago... It clearly sold well.
This headline should truly read that Saints Row sells surprisingly well despite being slandered by critics
@nessisonett That would be me for example.
Interestingly the chart data does not include Nintendo digital sales. I wonder what titles sold at full price to get on the chart and what was otherwise on sale.
@Member_the_game yep. Didn't even need to take heroine or use a magnifying glass to work it out.
good game at 15 outsells a poorly received 50+ game.
as for fifa, new one is out in what a week? and its on ea play. if it hadnt done better it would be an issue.
This is what happens when you make a game for those twitter freaks, deep silver should fired the person that think this game is a good idea.
Maybe if they didn't butcher the Saints Row franchise into the charmless vessel that it is now, it could've fared better for a while.
Overrated terrible game is outsold by 2-generation-old overrated mediocre game........ What has gaming come to?
@nessisonett I technically don't own it, since I sold the copy I used to own.
@NEStalgia risk aversion
It's the Mario Kart 8 effect. Then again, there's really nothing innovative with this Saints Row remake. It's just your average open-world formula kind of game.
@wiiware Angry Joe summed up this game's dialogue perfectly as "Twitter personified." My God how the hell did we go from the badass characters like the Boss, Gat, Shaundi and Pierce to a group of hipsters that whine about student loans and their waffle maker?
@riceNpea
Can't believe I didn't think of that myself
I still have not bought a copy of GTA5. 🤪
@Nepp67
The original 3rd Street Saints would absolutely destroy this reboot version
Why is GTA 5 continuingly to sell - because people keep having sex, therefore the population rises, therefore more penny's in rockstars back pocket 🙂
@ironcrow86 birth rates are on the decline worldwide and have been since Covid and vaccinations. Plus there is a rise of unexplained deaths, in the EU alone there's been a 16% on average ( countries like Spain its 36%, whereas other countries like Norway bring the average down) rise in sudden death syndrome, but not one government is looking into the root causes with anything like the scrutiny of Covid. The UK has over 1000 deaths a month above the average for the same period in time. Its a real concern as we don't understand why it's happening. Add that to birth rates declining it's a worrying trend.
@riceNpea not really in response to what I said there was it 😄
@ironcrow86 it was. Poplutions are not rising if birth rates are falling 😔😉
@ironcrow86 Does that actually apply to the people who keep buying GTAV though?
@NEStalgia I don't know probably - aside from anything else it has released on 3 gens of hardware, more people are gonna become aware of it as time passes, (as insinuated in a prior comment) or maybe they just wanna throw they're money away 🙂😄
@riceNpea You bring up a good point — I think the correlation is clear: GTAV causes premature death and sterility. It is single-handedly causing the extinction of humankind. 😜
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