No Man's Sky and World of Warcraft; Legion ascend PC sales charts ahead of release

Sci-fi exploration and survival game "No Man's Sky" launches August 12, while the latest expansion for MMO "World of Warcraft," entitled "Legion," lands August 30. The pair are both in high demand come Monday August 8 as they prepare to launch; meanwhile, "Doom," "Fallout 4" and "Skyrim" benefit from an annual studio expo sale.

"No Man's Sky" has been highly-anticipated since an ambitious reveal in December 2013; the years since saw the highs of nationwide appearances on US talk shows and the lows of severe studio floods.

Players are invited to travel from the outer rim of the universe to its very centre, though they could just as easily wander from planet to planet, discovering the unusual plants and creatures to be found on or underneath their surfaces, trading resources with alien explorers and filing their findings to an intergalactic database.

The "Legion" expansion offers a new realm for players of "World of Warcraft" to explore, with new quests to complete, new characters to meet, and a new type of hero to come to grips with. It's the second big "Warcraft" release this year after a mid-year, CGI-heavy movie pulled in over $430 million worldwide.

Upcoming action games "Quake Champions," "Prey," "Dishonored 2" and an add-on for May's "Doom" were given more publicity, while sales on previously-released titles by studios within the company's network mean the likes of "Doom," "Fallout 4," and two "Elder Scrolls" titles reappeared in chart top fives.