PS Plus Essential games swing for most popular PS5 games in chart

The PlayStation Chart this week has three new PS5 and PS4 games, so of course that means the PS Plus Essential games have arrived with everyone playing them!

Kes Eylers-Stephenson

Published 07 Aug 2023

The PS Plus Essential games August 2023 have landed on the PlayStation Chart, with it becoming clear that the latest best PS5 games are being pushed down the top 40 PS5 and PS4 games by live-service titles. The chart is generated by scanning 3.2 million PSN accounts, not just TrueTrophies accounts, and tracking the games they play.

PGA Tour 2K23 is king of the PS Plus games for the month

The top ten is dominated by the same old circuit of live service games like Call of Duty, FIFA, GTA, and Fortnite. Players booting up Diablo IV have helped get Blizzard's latest into fifth with a difference of 5.4% in total player counts between itself and Grand Theft Auto V above it. We are well into the swing of this generation now, so Diablo IV has 12 PS5 players for every PS4 player.

PS Plus Essential makes the biggest impact this week, though. Players swinging for the PGA Tour 2K23 trophies have helped the sports game land in 15th place. Though it's above the other PS Plus game, this isn't the best debut for a PS Plus game this year given Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War's performance, but nor has it really impacted the chart in the way most headline games do. In fact, it's way off the pace from 14th just above it, with 19.9% fewer total players than Fall Guys.

Instead, it could be argued that players collecting Death's Door trophies have had the biggest impact relative to the size of the game as the indie landed in 20th place just behind the high-flying Remnant II in 19th. It's a niche game with a small budget, so to have drawn as many players as it has is really good stuff.

Finally, on the PS Plus train, we have plenty getting stuck into grabbing Dreams trophies. It's not as many as we imagine Media Molecule would have hoped for though given it is a PS4 exclusive by a PlayStation Studio. The game-making game isn't going to be supported after a final patch, but it feels like Dreams would have done with PS Plus a long time ago to help save it. After a series of mistakes — like not having a PC port, lack of level exporting, and poor marketing — have paid dividends and this looks like the final chance the game will ever get at having a substantial player count.

So, that's a list loaded with some of the best PS Plus games. But what do you think of the news? Here are the top 40 most popular PS5 and PS4 games organized into the PlayStation Chart for the week ending Sunday, August 6, 2023.

Top 40 most popular PS5 and PS4 games chart

Position	Game	Publisher	Last week
1	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II	Activision	1
2	Fortnite	Epic Games	2
3	FIFA 23	Electronic Arts	3
4	Grand Theft Auto V	Rockstar Games	4
5	Diablo IV	Blizzard Entertainment	5
6	Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition	Mojang Studios	8
7	Rocket League	Psyonix	9
8	Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War	Activision	6
9	NBA 2K23	2K Sports	7
10	Overwatch 2	Blizzard Entertainment	11
11	Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege	Ubisoft	12
12	Apex Legends	Electronic Arts	13
13	FINAL FANTASY XVI	Square Enix	10
14	Fall Guys	Epic Games	14
15	PGA TOUR 2K23	2K Sports	-
16	Destiny 2	Bungie	16
17	Dead by Daylight	Behaviour Interactive	15
18	Red Dead Redemption 2	Rockstar Games	17
19	Remnant II	H2 Interactive	21
20	Death's Door	Devolver Digital	-
21	Call of Duty: Black Ops III	Activision	19
22	Dreams	Sony Interactive Entertainment	-
23	FIFA 22	Electronic Arts	20
24	Gran Turismo 7	Sony Interactive Entertainment	26
25	Street Fighter 6	Capcom Entertainment	18
26	Mortal Kombat 11	Warner Bros. Games	23
27	Elden Ring	Bandai Namco Entertainment	22
28	Genshin Impact	Cognosphere	25
29	EA SPORTS UFC 4	Electronic Arts	24
30	Battlefield 2042	Electronic Arts	28
31	Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales	Sony Interactive Entertainment	27
32	It Takes Two	Electronic Arts	29
33	Ghost of Tsushima	Sony Interactive Entertainment	30
34	God of War Ragnarök	Sony Interactive Entertainment	33
35	Madden NFL 23	Electronic Arts	34
36	Marvel's Spider-Man Remastered	Sony Interactive Entertainment	32
37	Hogwarts Legacy	Warner Bros. Games	35
38	Call of Duty: Modern Warfare	Activision	37
39	Brawlhalla	Blue Mammoth Games	36
40	Far Cry 6	Ubisoft	39

Chart compiled using gameplay data from over 3.2 million active PlayStation accounts. Chart information is copyright GameInsights.

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Written by Kes Eylers-Stephenson

Editor Kes is our resident expert in PlayStation and other gaming news. He writes about PS5 exclusives like The Last of Us and Horizon, PS Plus news, and his favorite games — The Witcher, Assassin’s Creed, and God of War — before an evening swim.