Live service games and sports titles continue to dominate the video game charts, with single-player games nowhere to be seen in the top 20 most played PS5 games in July. According to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, the data for the week ending July 25 reveals that the top 10 on both PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S are entirely composed of ongoing live service games and annualized sports sequels. Notably, the PlayStation chart has no single-player games whatsoever in the top 20, while the Xbox chart features only one pure single-player title: Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced, sitting at 14th place.
Fortnite Reclaims Top Spot on PS5
Unsurprisingly, Fortnite holds the top position on both platforms, but on PlayStation, it had to reclaim it after losing it to Activision's port of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 the week prior. The two charts share many of the same names, including Roblox, Minecraft, Marvel Rivals, and Rainbow Six: Siege. The most recent games in the top 10 are this year's versions of NBA 2K and EA Sports College Football, which are the closest things to new releases on the list. GTA 5 remains incredibly popular, but that is almost entirely due to its online multiplayer mode rather than its single-player content.
Expanded Top 20 Shows No Improvement for Single-Player
Expanding the charts to the top 20 makes little difference for single-player enthusiasts. On the Xbox chart, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is the only pure single-player game, while the PlayStation chart has none. Curiously, the data includes the PlayStation 5 exclusive fighting game Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, which isn't due for release until August 6. Its appearance at 17th place is due solely to the recent beta, which was free to play. It charted above Battlefield 6 and Dead By Daylight, but whether this translates into actual sales remains to be seen.
New Additions to the Charts
Marvel Tōkon's beta was the only new addition to break into the top 20 on the PlayStation side that week. The Xbox chart saw a new co-op horror game called Shift At Midnight, coincidentally also at number 17. The data reflects the traditional summer games drought, but the trend is consistent throughout the year. Last year, it was reported that most US gamers were playing at least one of the top live service games regularly, highlighting how players now tend to stick to a few familiar titles rather than hopping between many different games.
Implications for Publishers
This dominance of live service games informs why major publishers are doubling down on monetization. EA, for example, is expected to further monetize its sports games, as seen with the extra expensive Ultimate Plus Edition of EA Sports FC 27 alongside the regular Ultimate Edition. EA also added microtransactions to EA Sports College Football 27's single-player modes but removed them after fan backlash. Xbox boss Asha Sharma has stated in a memo, as shared by The Verge, that she wants to make Minecraft 'the world's creator platform,' which sounds like a bid to turn it into a Roblox competitor. Given that Roblox charts higher than Minecraft in active player numbers, this approach is understandable, even if it risks alienating the game's core audience.
