Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, the recently released remaster of the first three games in the 3D platformer series, has proven to be very popular with gamers. Whether out of 90’s nostalgia or simply because it’s a really good platformer, it has quickly become one of the best selling games this year. It sold so well, in fact, that according to a report from GamesIndustry.biz, Crash Bandicoot may have singlehandedly saved the failing UK retail video games market.
Despite being released on June 30th, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy became the UK’s best-selling boxed game of the month. It did so well, it more than doubled the sales of the second place game, the highly anticipated fighting game Tekken 7.
Before the Crash Bandicoot remaster was released, June was on its way to being one of the worst months for the UK retail games market, made even worse by investors’ disappointment with E3. Physical game revenue rose a measly 4% in June compared to last year, and the number of games sold rose 9% (1,251,712 units sold). Once Activision released Crash Bandicoot, however, they accounted for 16.5% of the games sold and 13% of the revenue.
As for the rest of the games on the UK’s Top 20 best-selling retail games for June, Grand Theft Auto V rose to third place (from May’s 5th). Horizon Zero Dawn (the previous best-selling exclusive of the year) jumped from 12th to 4th and Overwatch from 9th to 5th. Other new releases in June include Dirt 4 in 6th place, Wipeout: Omega Collection in 9th, and Arms, coming in at a disappointing 15th place, right behind Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.