As a player sitting in 2026, I still find old download charts oddly fascinating. They are little time capsules that show what people were actually buying, not just what critics were praising. When Sony revealed the most-downloaded PS5 games for March 2021, the list felt like a snapshot of an early console generation: Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and FIFA 21 were predictable, but It Takes Two was a pleasant surprise. I remember thinking, how often does a co-op-only game crash a platform’s top five? That question makes the chart more interesting now than it was then.
🕹️ The Early PS5 Context
The PS5 launched late in 2020 as Sony’s current-gen successor to the PS4. The launch was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which closed production factories in the months before release. That led to a much smaller first batch of launch units, and the limited stock that did reach stores sold out almost immediately. Pre-orders were difficult to find, and scalpers resold the few available consoles for thousands of dollars. By December 31, 2020, the PS5 had sold 4.5 million units, roughly on par with the PS4’s launch sales in 2013.
Looking back from 2026, that context matters. The March 2021 chart was not simply a popularity contest; it was a chart shaped by scarcity, a tiny installed base, and a library that still leaned heavily on cross-gen releases. So what does a chart like this actually tell us? It tells us what early adopters were hungry for when they finally got their hands on a console.
📊 The March 2021 Top Five
| Region | Top five PS5 downloads in March 2021 |
|---|---|
| North America | 1. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War 2. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales 3. NBA 2K21 4. It Takes Two 5. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege |
| Europe | 1. FIFA 21 2. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War 3. It Takes Two 4. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege 5. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales |
The regional difference is easy to explain: FIFA dominates in Europe, where soccer is huge, while NBA 2K21 performs better in the United States, where basketball is one of the biggest sports. It is a small detail, but it shows how regional taste can shape a global platform’s charts.
The standout, though, is It Takes Two. It took the number three spot in both regions, which was a big achievement for EA’s Hazelight Studios. A game built entirely around two-player co-op is not the obvious candidate for a mainstream download chart. Yet there it was, sitting beside blockbuster shooters and annual sports titles. Was it word of mouth? Was it the promise of a shared experience during a strange, isolated period? I think both played a role.
🎮 What the PS4 Chart Added
Sony also included PS4 download numbers, and many listings followed the PS5 stats, except for games that had not yet received PS5 ports. At the time, big-name titles such as Minecraft and Grand Theft Auto V had yet to be ported to the PS5, and both were still in development. The report suggested that once these games upgraded to the PS5, both should chart fairly quickly based on their history of success. In 2026, that caveat reads like a historical note, but it also reminds me how slow the cross-gen transition felt in the early days.
The main thing missing from Sony’s report was the actual number of downloads. That is a crucial gap. A ranking tells us order, but not scale. It also has to be kept in mind that digital sales only represent a portion of total game sales. Physical copies, bundled games, and off-store promotions can all change the real picture.
So how should I read this chart today? Not as a definitive list of the best PS5 games, but as a record of momentum. The PS5 had such a small pool of games that were not already on the PS4, which explains why the console’s sales charts remained so similar to the older platform’s. It was a transition period, and the charts reflected that.
🔍 My Takeaway
For me, the March 2021 chart is a reminder that early console libraries are messy, exciting, and a little repetitive. Blockbusters dominate, sports games split by region, and every so often a smaller concept like It Takes Two breaks through. Would I have predicted that in 2021? Probably not. But that is exactly why I enjoy looking back at these old charts: they capture a moment that no longer exists, while still saying something about what players value.
Data referenced from Rock Paper Shotgun helps frame why March 2021 PS5 download rankings felt so transitional, with cross-gen hits, multiplayer staples, and standout curiosities like It Takes Two sharing space on a still-young platform. That kind of reporting is useful when reading old charts today, because it adds context around player habits, platform scarcity, and the broader momentum behind games that broke through by word of mouth rather than sheer franchise size.