Forza Horizon 5 Beats Ghost of Yotei as Top PS5 Game of 2025
▼ Summary
– NBA 2K26 was the most downloaded PS5 game in North America in 2025, while EA Sports FC 26 topped the European chart.
– Annual sports games and enduring titles like Grand Theft Auto 5 and Minecraft dominated the top positions in both regions.
– The Xbox port Forza Horizon 5 performed notably better in Europe (4th) than in North America (14th), even outperforming Sony’s Ghost of Yotei in Europe.
– Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 did not make the top five in either region, settling for seventh place, which may reflect lower-than-expected sales.
– Several highly anticipated games from 2025, including Hollow Knight: Silksong and Death Stranding 2, failed to make either top 20 download list.
PlayStation’s official download charts for 2025 reveal a fascinating split in gaming preferences between North America and Europe, with annual sports franchises predictably leading the pack. NBA 2K26 secured the top spot in the US and Canada, while EA Sports FC 26 dominated across the Atlantic. The lists share a strong core of perennial favorites, demonstrating the enduring appeal of certain blockbuster titles.
Following the sports giants, the rankings show remarkable consistency between regions. Grand Theft Auto V and Minecraft continue their seemingly permanent residence in the upper echelons, proving that some games simply defy age. Battlefield 6 also performed strongly, landing within the top five on both continents. This overlap highlights a shared global appetite for established, large-scale multiplayer experiences.
One of the more intriguing regional differences involves a former Xbox exclusive. Forza Horizon 5 achieved an impressive fourth place in Europe, significantly outperforming its fourteenth-place ranking in North America. Even more notably, the popular racing game managed to outpace Sony’s own major exclusive, Ghost of Yotei, on the European charts. It’s worth mentioning that Forza Horizon 5 launched on PlayStation 5 as a digital-only title, which may have influenced its accessibility and sales trajectory.
The success of these Xbox ports on PlayStation hardware underscores a significant market trend. The strong performance likely encourages the continued multiplatform strategy from Microsoft, with upcoming releases like Avowed and Halo: Campaign Evolved poised to follow a similar path. As for Ghost of Yotei, it fared somewhat better in North America, where it cracked the top ten, landing just behind the popular multiplayer title ARC Raiders.
Another notable talking point is the placement of the latest Call of Duty entry. The critically debated Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 failed to break into the top five in either territory, settling for seventh position. This could be interpreted as a sign of softer sales, at least when measured against the franchise’s own historically massive benchmarks.
The acclaimed Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which swept numerous Game of the Year awards, found a more receptive audience in Europe, placing tenth compared to its eighteenth-place finish in North America. It raises interesting questions about how much post-award buzz translates into actual consumer downloads.
Absent from both top-twenty lists are several high-profile games that generated considerable discussion throughout the year. Titles like Hollow Knight: Silksong, Death Stranding 2, Mafia: The Old Country, and Metal Gear Solid Delta all failed to chart, reminding us that online hype does not always correlate with commercial performance on these specific platforms.
The full lists provide a clear snapshot of what players were actually downloading over the past year. The dominance of familiar franchises alongside a few surprising cross-platform successes paints a picture of a market that values both reliable sequels and high-quality ports. It leaves one to ponder if certain titles, like the ever-present Grand Theft Auto V, will ever relinquish their chart positions to newer releases.
(Source: PushSquare)
