The recently announcedSaints Rowreboot hasn’t been performing as well as publisher Deep Silver and the parent Embracer Group would have certainly wanted. While the game has risen towards the top of the charts, it failed to get over the most important hurdle: dethroningSaints Row’s one and perhaps only significant rival,Grand Theft Auto. The figures from European game sales data reveal thatSaints Rowtook the second spot only afterGTA 5.
Saints Rowis the reboot of the 2006 action-adventure under the same name, which was considered the only rival of the open-world kind that could challengeGrand Theft Auto. Deep Silver published the reboot almost exactly a month ago and immediately was compared to both the current and upcomingGTAgames. While the reception hasn’t been great, some online critics have disingenuously claimedSaints Rowlooks worse than half-bakedGTA 6. Now, Europe’s video game industry has released the first sales data that includes the newSaints Row.
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According to the game sales data,Saints Rowtook second on the chart. On the surface this doesn’t look like a bad placement. After all,Spider-Man Remasteredwas also released in August on PC and only managed to get sixth on the list. However, there was really only one gameSaints Rowwas aiming for,GTA 5. Unfortunately forSaints Row,GTA 5had an amazing month in Europe and was able to beatSaints Rowfor the top spot. It is evident thatGTA 5is still going strong as gamers wait for the successor. According to a prominent leaker,GTA 6is expected to be released in 2024 or 2025.
Not everything is asbad forSaints Rowas even the Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors' commentscan be interpreted. The game was released on the 23rd, so while the August data shows the initial launch spike, it only includes approximately a week of sales. Considering this, the game’s spot on the chart isn’t terrible by any means. Comparisons toGTA 5are rough no matter how good the sales were, andSaints Rowshould attempt to veer off from direct comparisons to such a massively successful franchise that has turned into a phenomenon.
The placement, albeit maybe unfortunate for optics, doesn’t necessarily translate to as poor success as initial reviews ofSaints Rowmight have suggested. The game is probably going to make a profit for the companies involved, as Wingefors suggested to investors. It is also worth noting that this is data for Europe only.NPD’s data for best-selling games in the United Statesrevealed thatSaints Rowmanaged the third spot on consoles, whileGTA 5was nowhere to be seen on the charts.
Saints Rowis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
