Hogwarts Legacy Beats Modern Warfare 3, Spider-Man 2 as Most Downloaded PS5 Game of 2023

The fact Alan Wake 2 isn't there despite being digital only is really depressing.

A game that came out in February was downloaded more throughout the year than a game that came out 8 months later?

Shocking.

Wow, Spidey beat BG3 in both territories, impressive.

@CharlieChooChoo
Right. Lists like this are dumb, but they also show how crazy popular Call of Duty (undeservedly) is. Call of Duty games usually come out at the end of the year and rise to the top of the best sellers list for the whole year over far better games that come out a considerable number of months later.

Ahhh, those game awards 🤣🤣🤣

Considering it’s digital only, I’m surprised and saddened not to see Alan Wake II in either regions list.

Despite playing it all the way through, I had actually forgotten that Hogwarts Legacy was a game that came out last year.
Some combination of me personally just thinking it was just okay (6-7/10), and the good handful of games that I personally loved that came out after it (Baldur's Gate 3, Lies of P, Armored Core 6, Tears of the Kingdom, Spider-Man 2, Jedi Survivor, and Street Fighter 6). It was not a year kind for games that I have no strong feelings about.

@CharlieChooChoo Did anyone really expect Baldur's Gate 3 to sell more than Spider-Man on console?

@Krydle it was moreso a dig at the BG3 stans who refuse to believe any other game could perform better.

People have to admit that the Alan Wake series is more niche than we think. This is not about it being digital only, but the fact that people just didn’t wanted to play it.

What’s up with Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege? How is that game on both lists when it came out in 2015?

@CharlieChooChoo yeah BG3 was decent, but it sure wasn't the Second Coming that a certain chunk of the internet proclaimed it to be.

It's a bummer that a game that in my opinion is mundane, safe, iterative and a bloated budget sequel like spiderman 2 is way up there and Alan Wake 2 not there at all. As I would rather have more games like the latter get recognition and more creative content like it released; than more played out aging game design sequels and recycled content releases. I get it though, Sometimes the hive mind just wants more of the same "crowd pleasers," despite them getting pretty stale.

I truly hope Sony rights the course and greenlights something interesting again rather than waste so much money and time into churning out these sequels. I'd much rather have diversity of games and passion projects from their talent than sequel/remasterake assembly line output. Maybe that's just me though.

Kudos to Hogwarts, BG3, and Dead Island 2 though!

People still don’t seem to get that Remedy games do not have a big player base on PlayStation. Reminder: Alan Wake was published by Microsoft, the first time it was ever available on a PlayStation device was 2021, the vast majority of PS only players will have never played Alan Wake. Additionally, Control was the first ever Remedy game to be available on PlayStation day one, and the first Remedy game to be on PS at all since Max Payne 2 in 2003.

Control never made the 20 games on PSN, in either territory, for even a single month. Alan Wake II has been in the top 20 for the last 3 months in both NA and Europe. That’s massive progress.

Cool to see dead space remake. in that list.easily one of the best video games ever made.word up son

@Stevemalkpus The run it on-sale really cheap all the time.

@Stevemalkpus because its still one of the most downloaded games despite its age. Personally I've not played a rainbow game since rainbow six Vegas 2 on the xbox 360. Rainbow six 3 on the original xbox was a brilliant online game but after that they just became rather naff. From what I can gather siege is very good but I just can't be bothered to find out.

@DennisReynolds by alot of accounts alan wake much like all remedy games reviewed well but sold poorly. It also came out late in the year

@LN78 did you try and get a refund

@KundaliniRising333 it's because your opinion isn't the opinion of most gamers, and we should all be thankful of the Man Jesus for that!

It's some serious "old man shakes fist at cloud" energy.

HL must be getting close to that 25mil mark now. Sold way more than expected.

@DennisReynolds Only solace there is that Alan Wake II was cheap to make (relative to the other games on this list), so it certainly still made a profit and will warrant a third entry.

@KundaliniRising333 I think a flaw in your "argument" is that most people only buy/play a few games a year. So a "pretty stale" game like Spider-Man 2 doesn't seem that way outside of the small enthusiast market. If Sony corrected their course based on your feedback it would be disastrous for them. Realistically, there is room in the market for both styles of games. Something like Alan Wake II will have great appeal for the enthusiast crowd, which is extremely small in comparison to the entire gaming market, while something like Spider-Man 2 will appeal to casual gamers.

As an aside I liked both games. Spider-Man 2 wasn't terribly innovative, but it was great comfort food with a compelling story and satisfying gameplay loop.

Don’t forget that Hogwarts legacy did have preorder digital deluxe version to play the game 72 hours earlier, due to it doing that I bought digitally where usually I’d buy physical. Yakuza ishin did the same

Good news is that Remedy is very deft at budgeting and usually they can develop their games for a fraction of the cost of larger studios. They’ll still do well with AW2

Must be time for the weekly "Hogwarts sold well" post.

Sony Entertainment shareholders.. "hang on, didn't we used to make lots of these big budget single player games, they seem to still be really popular?" ... "Yeah Jim decided on 1 a year and bet the rest of the house on live service"

Might not be many open world games in there, a bit more linear or sports game. Although Spidey2 and Hogwarts legacy open worlds are top or near the top, just goes to show how popular an open world game can be when done right. Not a dig at turnbased BG3 or other none open worlds, was never gonna be as popular as a well made open world is, especially with the name Spiderman and Potter attached to it. Surprised RE4 not a little higher considering all the praise it gets

Horror games are niche.

Look at that list. What an amazing year that was.

@JAMes-BroWWWn that, my friend, is the thought of the day. Thanks for the positive vibes. Live and let live

Freaking love alan wake 2(platinum it on ps5)and this is sad lol.

The fact that Baldur's Gate 3 made this list is exceptionally impressive. How often have we seen people call the game niche? And it is! It is a turn-based game that caters to a smaller demographic than something like Spiderman 2, which has mass market appeal. I imagine that Larian are very happy to have made this list...

If you build it they will come! I'm not even a Harry potter fan I bought it for my wife for a early Christmas present walked by watched the combat and was hooked. They took the ip and built a a great game and not just use the ip name to get you to buy.

@DennisReynolds yeah but can't say I'm surprised. Within my circle of gamer friends, I recommended it to everybody, including horror junkies, and most claimed they hadn't because they never played Alan Wake 1 or whatever. I think it's the videogame equivalent of an Everything, Everywhere All at Once. An academy darling that only the gamophiles discover.