The best-selling video game of each year since 1993
The best-selling video game of each year since 1993
From Street Fighter II to Hogwarts Legacy, here’s the best-selling video game of each year.
I had no idea call of duty was such a big deal. It’s not my jam so I never notice it.
48I was thinking the same thing. I've never played a single one or even seen gameplay footage of them. Who is playing these games? I assumed they were just generic shooters.
21By virtue of them selling the best, they ARE generic shooters. It's just that the definition moves with them.
6I mean they are, but they also kinda defined what a generic shooter is today, I haven’t picked one up in ages because I hate multiplayer these days, had a lot of fun playing them up until Black Ops. Kinda got stale for me after that
4
This is why Sony was making such a big deal about Call of Duty during the discussions about Microsoft acquiring Activision (owners of the Call of Duty franchise). Sony wanted reassurance that the Call of Duty games would still come out on the PlayStation consoles, and not be exclusive to Microsoft's platforms (Xbox and Windows). When you see that Call of Duty has been the best selling game nearly every year recently, you can understand Sony's plea.
11
TLDR: Call of Duty.
40Well, more like ...
Mario, Mario, Pokemon, Pokemon, GTA, CoD, wtf Animal Crossing?, CoD
5
Very interesting how despite being the distant runner-up (and the 3rd place console in Japan) N64 games were consistant best sellers from 1996 to 1999. Either taking first, or several of the runner-up spots. Then in the 2000s, You don't see a single place from 2002 until 2006. I think this shows the real tragedy of the Gamecube. At least with the N64, games still sold numbers, but with the gamecube, Nintendo was struggling with consoles and software. Surprised not even any Gameboy Advance games made the list.
20I think an important aspect of Nintendo losing their best sellers during the early 2000s was the expensive choice to keep using cartridges on the N64. Then they failed with the 64DD to fix the problem of insufficient storage space available on the cartridges for the games other developers wanted to make.
The prime example is Square moving the Final Fantasy series to PlayStation starting with FF7. They could not have achieved the scale and 3D animations of FF7 on the N64. They needed the cheap and abundant storage space of CDs to make FF7.
If I was a single-console gamer who was more satisfied with the games available on PlayStation than on N64, then for the next generation I likely would choose a PS2 over whenever the N64's successor would be (as Nintendo has typically released last within a console generation while Sony usually releases early). And then at that point, I'm not buying Nintendo games at all, so I'm not contributing to their sales numbers. Xbox also rose during those years too.
Nintendo dug their own grave with respect to being the market leader in large part because they did not value their third party partners as much as they should have, and by the time the N64 was out, they had chased away a lot of important game developers. Those developers being absent for the GameCube generation hurt them. They somewhat repaired things during the Wii era, but I don't think their relationships with 3rd party developers and publishers were close to the same until the Switch.
12Lots of good points. Xbox is a big factor in this. Also, this was around the time many millennials were starting to buy consoles on their own and Nintendo was seen as somewhat childish. The more mature games were coming out on the other consoles at the same time that the first generation that grew up with pervasive gaming were becoming adults.
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Mario Kart mechanics peaked in MK64
18No way. The Wii version was wild, using gestures for actions like jumping.
9And kart mechanics peaked in Crash Team Racing...
3disagree, Double Dash defined dynamic driving.
3DS I reckon. It was just MK64 but slightly more refined.
2
I'm surprised that Gran Turismo was number one is 2005. I remember Star Wars Battlefront II being the hot new game everyone was playing at the time, and Star Wars being huge in general due to Episode III releasing that year. Just the fact that a PS2 exclusive driving sim, beat out a multi-platform Star Wars game that was one of the most hyped releases at the time is insane to me.
14So pretty much history of COD with some other games alongside
13It’s funny because the best COD wasn’t even #1 when it came out
6
Wow, the most recent GTA game is still ten years old?
10Permanently Deleted
12The PlayStation 2 had three GTAs.
GTAV had three PlayStations.
10You just blew my mind.
2
This just made me miss the 90's.
1016-bit is enough for me :)
1
Was Minecraft never a top 5 best selling game in any year?
10Really speaks to Minecraft's staying power that even without ever being in the top five for a single year it is the best selling game of all time. Cumulative COD clearly wins out but I would guess the majority of each game's sales are repeat customers.
10Honestly I expected it to be at one ☝️ nt but guess not
1
As expected, Pokémon and then CoD primarily. Gamers just wanna catch cool monsters and kill dudes. Kinda messed up tbh but like, whatever.
9Would be interesting to take this list all the way back to Pong in the 1970s.
9No way. The Wii version was wild, using actual gestures for jumps.
1
I read that tears of the kingdom is the best selling game of 2023 so far. I wonder where the author got their numbers from.
7Yeah, no way Harry Potter is selling more copies than TotK.
6
Shout out to Elden Ring. It's the only non-sequel, non-ip based game to chart since Destiny and Watch Dogs in 2014.
6Seems wrong to not consider it a sequel to the Dark Souls games though. I know it's not, but it's more than a spiritual successor IMO.
4I mean you could say that about DS too. It's just demon souls spiritual successor. Which is a spiritual successor of Kingsgate.
1
COD, COD, COD, COD, Animal Crossing, COD, COD COD, COD
Lol.
6Call of Duty: The list
6Pretty sure if they updated this year's entry today that it'd be taken over by Baldur's Gate.
5Nah no way. I'm as big a BG fanboy as anyone but it's a decidedly niche genre. The vast majority of people are not interested in CRPGs.
9Possible counterpoint worth noting, that game has been breaking concurrent player records on steam for several days in a row, and the game has yet to release on consoles. So if it's not the biggest game this year yet, it's likely to happen in the nearby future.
5
1995: Mortal Kombat 3
Console: Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, PC, Game Boy, Game Gear
I have Mortal Kombat 3 for Game Boy! Fun fact, it's the only original Game Boy game officially released rated M for Mature.
Also the Game Boy version is garbage. XD
4Hahaha. Can't imagine playing that on the Game Boy!
1
It's a shame that it doesn't go back far enough to include DooM.
3It does? The list starts in 1993, when Doom came out. Everyone played it, but I have never even seen a purchased copy. That might impact a lot of PC game sales, and explain why the list is dominated by console titles.
1
Everyone here talking about CoD and all I want to know is how Star Fox on SNES beat out GoldenEye in 1997.
3More people had a SNES and could afford Star Fox compared to buying a Nintendo64 console which was only one year old + GoldenEye.
2
I would not expect games on hand held consoles to reach best selling game of the year. I am shocked how Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare made the top spot in 2016. I remember that game getting booed before it was released.
2eh, consoles maybe. Starcraft wasnt in that last though.
2Nah, there is no way it outsold Pokemon Red/Blue.
9PC gaming was a much smaller market in the 90's compared to today. 1998 was also an insane year for gaming. Starcraft wasn't even in the top 10 for the year.
6
That Pokemon run from 1998 to 2001. Wow.
2Any idea which "Donkey Kong" was the #2 seller in 1999?
1I distinctly remember everyone playing Ocarina of Time in 1998. I didn't know anyone that was playing Pokemon Red/Blue.
0You have a really small circle then. Pokemon literally was making the news with how much it was dominating media at the time of it's western release in 1998.
To be fair, it's not like OoT wasn't popular. Even the article says it was second. But Pokemon was a phenomenon
12It's probably something to do with age. In 1998 I was 22. I was probably too old for Pokemon. I remember my nephews played the card game throughout the 90s. I didn't play Ocarina or Pokemon, but I knew tons of people into Ocarina, like my nephews. Memory is also unreliable and yes, it's listed as number 2, which surprised me, my poor or selective memory would have placed it number 1.
4