According to SteamDB, the top five best-selling games on Steam last week were Elden Ring, Elden Ring, Elden Ring Deluxe Edition, Destiny 2: The Witch Queen Deluxe Edition, and Elden Ring. Just short of the top, the Witch Queen standard edition took sixth place, leaving only two games to eat up the top six spots. I don’t think anyone expected FromSoftware’s hotly-anticipated open-world RPG or the latest installment of Bungie’s popular looter shooter to sell poorly in any way, but it’s a little absurd to see them take over all the top-selling spots. What makes each entry different?
In addition to the deluxe and standard editions, which account for one duplicate entry per game, the top spot for Elden Ring actually went to the Japanese version of the game, which outsold other localizations. As for the difference between Elden Ring in the second and fifth entries on the list, I think the bottom end is the last of the pre-orders from people in the first half of the week, engulfed in pre-launch excitement coating.
Whatever the reason, Elden Ring and to a lesser extent, the Witch Queen seem to have taken PC gaming by storm. Outside of the top five, it was the Steam deck that caught my attention as the seventh best-selling item on Steam. The portable gaming PC certainly impressed us, as well as other reviewers. But it’s a piece of hardware in the middle of a software launch, unlike an easily downloadable video game like Total War: Warhammer 3.
