No Man's Sky and Pokemon Go help digital game sales reach massive $6.1bn in August

Global digital game sales are surging with consumers continuing to spend more money on digital game downloads and microtransactions. According to a new report by intelligence firm SuperData Research, digital game sales generated a whopping $6.1bn (£4.7bn) in August alone, up 11% from 2015, thanks in part to space exploration sim No Man's Sky and the digital monster-catching mobile game Pokémon Go.

"A batch of successful releases across console, PC and mobile drove double digit year-over-year gains in market growth," the firm wrote in a blog post.

While popular games like League Of Legends, World Of Warcraft, Overwatch and Clash Of Clans continue to dominate in digital game sales, new releases such as No Man's Sky and Pokémon Go helped bump up the total revenue by attracting more players to spend more on digital downloads rather than retailers.

Following months of hype and attention from the gaming industry and fans surrounding the highly-anticipated release of Hello Games' No Man's Sky, the title managed to generate $78m in digital sales in its opening month across PC and PS4. However, SuperData did note that the game's rocky launch was plagued with bugs and received backlash from fans who felt the game failed to deliver on previously promised game features.

"An underdog studio taking big risks to do something novel has powerful appeal within the gaming community," the firm wrote. "But it remains to be seen if Hello Games has already used up all their good will."

Console digital revenue generated revenues of $399m, up 16% year-over-year, led by Call Of Duty, No Man's Sky and Grand Theft Auto 5.

PC game sales garnered $401m, rising 21% from the same month last year, fuelled by the boost in digital spending thanks to World Of Warcraft's latest expansion, Legion. Spending on microtransactions in PC games rose by 8% year-over-year to $1.41bn, while pay-to-play MMO sales slipped by 4% to $226m. Cash generated from games played on social media "remained stagnant," dropping by 2% to $604m.

Boosted by Niantic's massively successful Pokémon Go, the mobile market rose to about $3bn in revenue, 16% higher than the same month last year.

Here are the top-grossing digital games on console, PC and mobile: