Regards
Call of Duty is still a big problem, but Star Wars: Battlefront II is ... less so. It's time to pass the top 10 best-selling games in the United States by 2018, as tracked by industry data firm The NPD Group. This includes full game sales at retail and through a digital store (for publishers that share the data), but does not take into account the revenue generated from in-game purchases.
This is a great way to get an overview of the dynamic gaming industry. This is also the same data that large publishers watch to help inform how they pursue future projects. But that means sometimes the game is gone - and that's especially true this year.
We'll get to the top 10, but first - let's talk about Battlegrounds PlayerUnknown. NPD does not have exact numbers, but if PUBG Corporation developers share their sales data with NPD, battle war shooters will take the top of this list and will do a decent shot to make No. 1. PUBG has surpassed 30 millions of copies sold worldwide on PCs and already has over 3 million copies sold on Xbox One.
NPD analysts are not trying to extrapolate and estimate, so PUBG is not here. What is? Let's check it out.
10 best-selling NPD games of 2017
Call of Duty: WWIINBA 2K18Destiny 2 ** Madden NFL 18 Legend of Zelda: Wild Breath * Grand Theft Auto VTom Clancy's Ghost Recon: WildlandsStar Wars: Battlefront II ** Super Mario Odyssey * Mario Kart 8 *
- Digital sales are not included
** Digital PC sales are not included
After years of decline, Activision confirmed that Call of Duty: World War II sold more this year than entered in the series since 2012. That is more than enough to ensure that it occupies the No. 1 position. 1 in this table. This is the ninth consecutive year Call of Duty has occupied the top position.
The only Activision game in the top 10 is Destiny 2, a sci-fi shooter from the Halo Bungie developer. It landed at Number 3, and that means 2017 is huge for Activision.
"Activision Blizzard is driving the highest consumer spending for the year," said NPD analyst Mat Piscatella.
Take-Two Interactive (and its subsidiaries, like 2K Games) also has a strong 2017. NBA 2K18 company is the second best seller of the year. That's up from position number 4 in 2016. But the jewel of Take-Two Interactive's crown, Grand Theft Auto, was still massive last year.
GTA V debuted in 2013, but its age is not taken into account. The game of open world crime is the number 6 bestseller for the second year in a row. This is the sixth year in a row GTA has occupied the top 10 positions.
But while GTA V is a miracle of consistency, the game Star Wars from Electronic Artsare is less so. In 2015, Star Wars sci-fi multiplayer shooter: Battlefront ends as the 4th best-selling game of the year. It puts it one point ahead of GTA V. But by 2017, Star Wars: Battlefront II only goes to No. 1. 8. That's behind GTA V, a game that is now two years older. The other EA matches on the chart, the Madden NFL 18 concert sim, are in 4th place.
Only two other publishers have games in the top 10, and that is Nintendo and Uisoft. Ghost Recon Tom Clancy: Wildlands landed in position number 7. The open-world cooperative shooter debuted in March, and was one of the biggest hits in the first half of the year.
The last publisher is Nintendo. The company has a 2017 revival with the launch of the Switch console along with Mario, Zelda, and the new Mario Kart to follow. Mario Kart 8: Deluxe is basically a Wii U game with some extras, and it makes the list at Number 10. Super Mario Odyssey, which was launched in late October, made it to No. 1. 9. Finally, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild ended the year at No. 5.
What is so impressive about Nintendo games is that they are the only entry in this list that does not include digital sales. If you add in that income, there is a reason that they will end up even higher.