Charts USA: Helldivers 2 makes democracy triumph in February – News

Let's start by pointing out that this report counts for the period from February 4 to March 2, which means that titles like Persona 3 Reload and Suicide Squad had already made their debut in the report for the month of January, just like Like a Dragon 8 and Persona 3 Reload. Of these two big Sega titles, only the RPG from Atlus remained in the top 20, even if it was Tekken 8 which had the second strongest month by clinching the top 5.

PlayStation <3 PC

Best seller of the month of February, Helldivers 2 is also the best-selling game since the start of the year. Its simultaneous launch on PS5 and Steam, a formula that PlayStation intends to apply to all its multiplayer titles, has worked wonders: in the United States, almost 60% of the game's sales come from Steam. In terms of value, Arrowhead Game Studios' TPS was among the big guys by achieving the 7th biggest launch of a PlayStation Studios game, while being sold for 40 dollars compared to 60 or 70 for the other biggest launches in question. With a community success quickly established despite servers with insufficient initial capacity, here is the Swedish studio sitting at the same table as Naughty Dog, Insomniac Games and other Santa Monica Studio.

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In the United States, Helldivers 2 was quite simply the most played game on Steam in terms of number of active players, ahead of Palworld and Counter-Strike 2. On PlayStation 5, the democracy simulator rose to 7th place. We don’t dislodge the “black holes” like Fortnite, Call of Duty or even GTA Online like that. One thing is certain, in the midst of its recent difficulties (cancellation of The Last of Us Online, closure of London Studio and its multiplayer game, Bungie's bad luck), PlayStation found its gold mine and its benchmark in the field of multiplayer service games. It's up to him to learn the right lessons.

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Released only on PlayStation 5 and limited to its first three days of sales, from 02/29 to 03/02, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth must be satisfied with second place… and 8th, given the presence of a double pack counted separately. Circana did not provide any information to compare the game's launch with other Final Fantasy games. If it is understood that Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth started less well than Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Mat Piscatella from Circana believes that the comparison is awkward, the 2020 game having clearly benefited from the pandemic effect. Other releases this month include Skull and Bones (4th) and Mario vs. Donkey Kong (11th), Nintendo games still being penalized by the absence of download sales.

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Despite a start to the year full of big releases, console sales are taking a hit at the start of 2024. In value terms, sales of our gaming machines have fallen by 30% compared to February 2023 and represent $349 million. The PlayStation 5 is no exception even if it remains at the top of sales in terms of volume and value and the machine had the biggest month of February for the PlayStation brand last year. As for last month, the Switch placed second in volume while the Xbox Series was second in value. Microsoft's console is the one which has declined the least compared to last year (- 19%) which as it stands does not change much in the general observation since it is also the one which starts from the lowest.

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On the accessories side, the PlayStation Portal seems to have had a higher stock than usual since it finished first in sales in value ahead of the equally expensive DualSense Edge controller. According to Mat Piscatella, the remote reader does not achieve huge figures as the manufacturer's distribution strategy remains conservative, which seems to suit it entirely. Accessories nevertheless saw a nice increase of 25% compared to February 2023 with a turnover of $219 million. The same cannot be said of subscriptions which continue to show their limits with spending falling at the start of the year, without further details. For the entire market, Circana recorded revenue of $4.7 billion last month compared to $4.6 billion a year earlier. A flattering result to say the least, knowing that a certain Hogwarts Legacy was released in February 2023.

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