Uncharted 4 made $56M in digital revenues from downloads and microtransactions in May

The millions of PlayStation 4 owners worldwide turned one of Sony’s biggest franchises into a huge digital success last month.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (read GamesBeat’s review) generated $56 million from downloads and microtransactions in May, according to intelligence firm SuperData Research. That was enough to make it the top grossing console game for the month despite only appearing on a single platform. It beat out Call of Duty: Black Ops III, which has sat atop this list for months. Uncharted 4 debuted May 10 for $60, but it also features in-app purchases for unlocking content in its online multiplayer mode. That business model — where publishers charge an upfront price and include other microtransactions — increases the average lifetime value of consumers, and it is one of the strategies fueling the $99.6 billion gaming industry.

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We already knew it was the top-selling new physical game at U.S. retailers last month — Sony confirmed it sold 2.7 million copies in the first week — but now it’s clear that it also made a lot of additional treasure from downloads.

“The long-awaited end to the Uncharted series managed to push past Call of Duty: Black Ops III, making it the highest earning title on console in May,” SuperData chief executive and analyst Joost van Dreunen wrote in a blog post. “Over the course of its legacy, the appetite for digitally distributed games has grown significantly, as Uncharted 4 selling almost six times as many digital copies at launch than Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection.”

Here’s the top 5 digital console games from May, according to SuperData:

1. Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End (PS4)
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops III (PS4, Xbox One)
3. FIFA 16 (PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360)
4. Tom Clancy’s The Division (PS4, Xbox One)
5. Overwatch (PS4, Xbox One)

Overwatch is the other new game on this list, and it also had an enormous May. SuperData revealed that it made $269 million from digital sales. Like Uncharted, it also features in-game purchases.