July’s most downloaded Steam, Xbox, and PlayStation games
July's ranking is DIVERSE, with subscription inclusions, shooters, early-access launches, indies, AAA, old, and new games alike.
Let’s get the lowdown on the downloads.
PEAK climbs to new heights
I’ll stop making the climbing 'joke’ when PEAK stops selling! Anyway, to absolutely nobody’s surprise, PC-only co-op climbing game PEAK was July’s top game by downloads, with 4.0 million. Around 7.7 million players on Steam have bought PEAK, generating revenues of over $46 million to date.
While the budget indie’s sales are slowing down, PEAK will still cross $50 million over the next couple of weeks. It’s still grossing around $500 K a day despite the slowdown. On its current trajectory, PEAK should plant its flag on 10 million copies sold by the end of the year. See, I do have other climbing puns!
Free-to-play Mecha Break was #2 by downloads but is struggling to stick
Mecha Break, a free-to-play shooter from Chinese studio Amazing Seasun Games, took #2 with 3.1 million downloads in July (its launch month). Xbox accounted for 28% of the downloads (about 700 K), with Steam accounting for the lion’s share.
Unusually, Mecha Break skipped PlayStation but came to Xbox. The Xbox version included special perks for Game Pass users, and Xbox has promoted Mecha Break on the Xbox Wire blog. So, Xbox might have struck a console-exclusivity deal with the dev.
It’s the most likely reason for them to skip PlayStation. If developers have to forgo a platform for budget reasons, it’s typically Xbox, due to its smaller install base.
Candidly, Mecha Break likely would have been #1 on this month’s list had it come to PlayStation. Typically, a live-service game would benefit from a full cross-platform release to make the most of network effects.
But a PlayStation release might not have saved Mecha Break, either. On Steam, retention is very low. Mecha Break’s engagement has been rapidly declining, with just 44 K players logging in yesterday:
Unless something drastically changes, Mecha Break is sadly on track to become another free-to-play live-service casualty, just weeks after Splitgate 2’s return to the drawing board, too.
Our data shows that Mecha Break has generated $3.8 million in revenues on Steam, just 14% of fellow Chinese-made game WUCHANG’s $27.6 million in Steam revenues.
Yes, we have revenues for free-to-play games in our platform! Get your demo and free trial here and see for yourself.
There’s a big takeaway here. And it’s one I’ve been banging on about for a while. Comparing Mecha Break’s free-to-play retention challenges with the respectable premium success of WUCHANG further highlights the zero-sum nature of live service games.
This is especially true for these smaller free-to-play titles that lack the resources for long and steady content treadmills.
Our Steam crossover data shows that many of Mecha Break’s and WUCHANG’s players are already playing massive shooters like PUBG, Call of Duty, and Apex Legends.
Let me be clear: there are gaps in the market for shooters, and there are some lapsed players floating around to capture. Hell, we’re about to talk about another, more successful shooter in the next section.
But the current winners capture SO MUCH consumer attention and engagement that convincing players – and their friends – to leave for new titles is extremely challenging.
Live-service games are the homes of many highly engaged players. Getting them to move house is a big ask, but going ‘on holiday’ to a single-player game is an easier sell, clearly.
Sports and shooters round out the top 5
EA’s College Football 26 (#3), which is console only, was downloaded 3.1 million times in its launch month after debuting on July 10 (or July 7 for Deluxe and MVP Bundle owners).
Notably, College Football 26 downloads on Xbox outpaced PlayStation (1.7 million versus 1.3 million). This is largely due to EA Play’s 10-hour trial of the title, which is included with Game Pass Ultimate. Learn more about College Football’s copies sold on PS5 in our Tuesday newsletter.
The 2022 version of Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 (#4) had 2.7 million downloads last month, thanks to Activision’s decision to separate the game from the Call of Duty HQ client to help players save storage space.
Call of Duty players have long lamented the hilariously large install sizes in the Call of Duty HQ app, so this was the right move. The community is happy.
Speaking of shooters, Ready or Not finally came to console last month. Originally released on PC in 2023, the premium tactical SWAT shooter has clearly found a new audience with a port that launched last month. Mostly thanks to console, Ready or Not was July’s #5 game by downloads, with 2.7 million.
As we discussed in our newsletter from earlier this week, the launch hasn’t been without friction. The console-focused update shipped to all platforms, leading to frustration among some long-time PC players and sparking a wave of review bombing on Steam.
As you can see above, inclusion in game subscriptions seriously spikes downloads. It also shoots player numbers up, so if any third-party publisher reveals its game’s results in ‘‘player numbers’’ instead of ‘‘copies sold’’, it might be attempting to downplay a poorer-than-expected copies sold number.
Using ‘‘players’’ as an engagement metric for non-free-to-play games is a thumb on the scale of a game’s performance, so to speak.
Sandfall and Kepler were more than happy to announce that Expedition 33 sold 3.3 million copies in 33 days, despite being on Xbox Game Pass. But fellow French company Ubisoft only talked about Assassin’s Creed Shadows in terms of player numbers.
We’ll leave it at that.
Subscriptions and discounts helped boost FC 25 and Cyberpunk downloads
EA FC 25 is at number #6 with 2.3 million downloads, with PlayStation accounting for 45% (around a million), Xbox accounting for a little over 42% (959 K), and Steam taking the remaining 13% (286 K).
Aggressive price drops on PlayStation and Steam are boosting FC 25’s numbers ahead of next month’s FC 26 launch. Xbox’s high download numbers mainly come via Game Pass, which Xbox added FC 25 to in mid-June.
Interestingly, roughly the same number of gamers on PS5 paid for FC 25 than those who downloaded it via Game Pass. This is due to PlayStation’s higher installed base, and PlayStation gamers higher readiness to buy games.
Many Xbox console gamers get more than enough value from their Game Pass subscriptions. Want some proof of that? You’ll get it in the next section.
Speaking of subscriptions, Cyberpunk 2077 (#7) came to the PlayStation Plus game catalogue (Extra and Premium tiers) in July, leading to 1.5 million downloads on PlayStation (76.2% of Cyberpunk’s two million).
The Steam version of Cyberpunk accounted for 18.6%, or 364 K downloads, owing to a steep discount from $60 to $21 (-65%) – its lowest price yet.
As you can see in the Alinea platform screenshot below (nab a free trial!), heavy Cyberpunk discounts on Steam have a noticeable impact on sales:
Want unlimited access to our platform for three days? Reach out here, and it’s yours!
Three Game Pass games finish off the top 10 games by downloads
Two arcadey sports games and one early-access title (all available on Game Pass) took the #8, #9, and #10 spots:
Rematch (#8) was downloaded 1.9 million times last month, with 65% (1.3 million) via Xbox, thanks to the Game Pass inclusion. Around 19% came from Steam (365 K), with the remaining 16% (308 K) from PlayStation. Between Expedition 33 and Rematch, French publisher Kepler is on a kick this year (sorry) when it comes to successes. And French gamers are here for it. On PlayStation, 11% of Expedition 33 and Rematch’s audience is in France – far above average!
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 (#9) frontside-flipped over 1.9 million downloads in its launch month. However, there sadly isn’t too much to be stoked about sales-wise, as over 90% of these came from Xbox due to its Game Pass inclusion. However, the game was developed on a shoestring budget in a short period of time, has been a hit with fans (myself included!), and has clearly added a lot of value to Game Pass.
Grounded 2 (#10) launched in early access on PC and Xbox on July 29, pulling in 1.9 million downloads in just three days! While its Game Pass inclusion meant that 82% of these came from Xbox consoles, the paid Steam version was downloaded 346 K times. Both fans and critics have been impressed, so Grounded 2 could become another survival hit if its early-access period goes well.
To date, Grounded 2 has sold almost 600 K copies on Steam (revenues of $13.2 million). It’s selling about 1.25 x more than the original Grounded had at this point.
Get a FREE trial of the Alinea platform
Want to get your hands on our data for yourself?
Reminder: we’re offering a free trial of our platform for games companies to coincide with gamescom 2025. Click this link and follow the instructions to get access.
Why don't other companies publicly give out estimates or offer free trials?
Honestly, most don’t have faith in their data.💁🏽 We’re not like that. To get your trial, just like this LinkedIn post on comment ‘’free trial’’ on it.
If you’re going to gamescom and want to meet up, let us know here! 📅📌
The last word
Reply to this email – or reach out here – if you have any feedback for the newsletter – or want to request a game for us to cover.
[Alinea Analytics boasts the most accurate PC and console estimates in the business. Game makers use our platform to understand their audience, keep an eye on the competition, monitor sales trends, and spot new opportunities. We equip game studios and financial institutions with accurate data and the confidence to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Want to talk about all things games market data? We’d love to chat!]