September’s digital revenue chart sees the return of familiar faces, and some interesting new arrivals.
Market analyst SuperData has published its report on the top digital games in September across PC, console and mobile. Much of September’s data isn’t very surprising, but it’s still interesting to see how the top earners managed relative to each other, and across platforms.
NBA 2K21 is yet again the king of September, off the back of 1.9 million units in digital sales. That’s a 19% increase over last year’s game. Though NBA 2K21 wasn’t September’s best-seller on console, it did make more money through in-game microtransactions, growing by 8% over NBA 2K20.
Second on the list is Marvel’s Avengers, which managed to sell 2.2 million units digitally during the month. According to SuperData, Avengers sold about as well as Spider-Man on digital platforms, which is a bit surprising considering it was available on more platforms, and featured more heroes than just Spider-Man. This also makes it Square Enix’s second-best digital launch, trailing Final Fantasy 7 Remake. The company reckons Avengers’ launch performance puts it between Destiny 2 and The Division 2.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 was another September hit, shifting 2.8 million copies digitally, a bigger launch haul than any of the Crash Bandicoot and Spyro remakes. Super Mario 3D All-Stars managed to sell 1.8 million on the eShop, which makes it the biggest digital launch for a Mario game on Switch.
PC also got a big win with Crusader Kings 3, which sold over 1.1 million in September, despite being available on Xbox Game Pass at launch. To put this number into perspective, Crusader Kings 3’s launch is bigger than Total War: Three Kingdoms, and Civilization 6.
The rising phenomenon Among Us saw a massive surge in the number of players on mobile, attracting about as many as Pokemon Go did in its peak in August 2016. Despite this, Among Us couldn’t make the top 40 in terms of revenue, due mainly to the fact it doesn’t offer many in-game items for purchase.
Finally, Rocket League‘s shift into free-to-play was seemingly a good decision on the part of developer Psyonix. Despite its age, the transition boosted interest in the game once again, with player numbers tripling in September. SuperData says launch week revenue (September 23-30) was about equal to the three previous weeks combined.
