THE TOP 100 SELLING GAMES OF THE LAST 12 MONTHS : Next Generation - Interactive Entertainment Today, Video Game and Industry News - Home of Edge Online
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I did top 20 top 100 was way too long. Click the link above for the other 80
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20. Forza Motorsport 2
X360 Exclusive
2.1M
90%
May/Racing
Microsoft/Turn 10 Studios
Douglass C. Perry (GameTap): “Turn 10's second foray into the racing sim realm is a technical specimen of a racer, providing an exhaustive physics engine and precision detail to each vehicle.”
19. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
PS2/PS3/PSP/X360/PC/Wii/DS
2.2M
54%
May/License
Disney Interactive/Amaze (DS), Eurocom (All Others)
Aaron Thomas (GameSpot): “The biggest problem is that you're playing as a cool character in an exotic location, but you're not doing anything interesting, just running around picking up items and hitting the attack button endlessly.”
18. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08
Wii/DS/X360/PS2/PS3/PSP/PC
2.3M
72%
August/Sports
EA/EA Tiburon
Richard Grisham (GamesRadar): “Sure, you'll invent some terribly foul new curses when things don't go your way, become convinced that the gods are out to get you, and wonder just why you ever started playing the game in the first place. And then, as soon as your round is over, you'll start another one lickety split.”
17. Mario Party 8
Wii Exclusive
3M
62%
May/Other (Party)
Nintendo/Hudson Soft
Ryan Davis (GameSpot): “The fact that there are more interesting minigame collections out there now, like Rayman Raving Rabbids, puts that laziness in stark relief and makes it more difficult to tolerate.”
16. Transformers: The Game
PS2/PS3/PSP/DS/Wii/X360
3.3M
56%
June/License
Activision/Vicarious Visions (DS), Traveller’s Tales (All others)
Eric Bratcher (GamesRadar): “It's arguably forgivable that every mission is some variation on the formula, "get from point A to point B and blow up X in Y number of seconds" - but when both driving and combat are broken, it's time to transform this into some other game.”
15. Spider-Man 3
PS2/PS3/PSP/X360/Wii/DS/GBA
3.4M
50%
May/License
Activision/Treyarch (PS3/X360), Beenox (PC), Vicarious Visions (All others)
Gabe Graziani (GameSpy): “Spider-Man 3 will probably only be moderately entertaining for people that are committed to wringing some enjoyment out of a clearly rushed product.”
14. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
Wii/DS
3.4M
67%
November/Sports
Sega/Sega
Tae Kim (GamePro): “Mario & Sonic is exactly what Sega, Nintendo and the International Olympic Committee wanted it to be: an interesting albeit shallow game that should prove successful with casual gamers, especially kids.”
13. WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2008
PS2/PS3/PSP/X360/DS/Wii
3.5M
71%
November/License
THQ/Amaze (DS), Yuke’s (All others)
Louis Bedigan (GameZone): “With much of the 24/7 mode content being pulled over from previous versions, and most of the gameplay having been experienced before, WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2008 doesn’t feel fresh on PlayStation 2 anymore.”
12. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008
PS2/PS3/PSP/X360/DS/Wii/PC
3.8M
82%
November/Sports
Konami/Konami
Dave Harrison (GamesRadar): “But even though it lacks licenses and giant leaps forward, the fact that at its core Pro Evo 2008 is still the most complete and sophisticated football game we’ve ever seen counts for something.”
11. The Simpsons Game
PS2/PS3/PSP/X360/Wii/DS
3.9M
68%
October/License
EA/Rebellion (PS2/PSP/Wii), EA Redwood Shores (PS3/360/DS)
Nate Ahearn (IGN): “…as it stands The Simpsons is a passable effort on PS2. If you want to experience the laughs of this version with gameplay that’s actually fun, seek it out on one of the next-gen systems.”
10. Brain Age 2: More Brain Training in Minutes a Day
DS Exclusive
4M
77%
August/Other
Nintendo/Nintendo
Mike Smith (Yahoo! Games): “Whether or not you buy into the hype that playing this game will actually improve your brain, it's still one of the DS's most charming titles -- and it's got plenty of competition on that front.”
9. Super Mario Galaxy
Wii Exclusive
4.1M
97%
November/Action
Nintendo/Nintendo
Cody Winn (Deeko): “Any complaints I have with the game, well, they're so minute that I can't even remember them at this point.”
8. Assassin’s Creed
X360/PS3
4.9M
81%
November/Action
Ubisoft/Ubisoft Montreal
Dana Jongewaard (GameTap): “So is Assassin's Creed as awesome as I wanted it to be? No. But it's a game that attempts a lot of major development moves and it shows a lot of promise, even if it isn't always executed well.”
7. Pokemon Diamond/Pearl
DS Exclusive
5M
85%
April/RPG
Nintendo/Game Freak
Jeremy Parish (1Up): “Look beyond the cheaply-made anime and the overblown collectible tie-ins, though, and you'll find that the foundation upon which the whole endeavor has been constructed is an enjoyable and often addictive RPG with a fantastic social element.”
6. Need for Speed: ProStreet
PS2/PS3/PSP/X360/Wii/DS/PC
5.4M
62%
November/Racing
EA/EA Black Box
Steve Hogarty (CVG): “Sure, there are far worse driving games than this one, but in terms of the Need For Speed series, this is a dud note.”
5. Madden NFL 08
PS2/PS3/PSP/X360/Wii/GC/DS/PC/XBX
5.7M
78%
August/Sports
EA/EA Tiburon
Richard Grisham (GamesRadar): “It may be the only NFL choice once again this season for the PS2, but at least it does the Madden name justice with its smooth play, wide range of features old and new, ridiculously in-depth franchise options, and online games.”
4. FIFA Soccer 08
PS2/PS3/PSP/X360/Wii/DS/PC
5.7M
83%
October/Sports
EA/EA Canada
Dan Leahy (GameSpy): “Looks, as they say, aren't everything and FIFA 08 on the PS2 demonstrates this perfectly. Spot-on control, great atmosphere, more features than ever and balanced gameplay should send this one to the back of any soccer fan's net.”
3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
PS2/PS3/X360/Wii/PC
7.5M
82%
October/Other (Music)
Activision/Neversoft
Justin Leeper (GamesRadar): “Guitar Hero is still the best of the best when it comes to music and party games.”
2. Halo 3
X360 Exclusive
8M
94%
September/Shooter
Microsoft/Bungie
Gus Mastrapa (The Onion A.V. Club): “Nobody does this kind of online gaming better. The sheer variety of play offered out of the box is staggering.”
1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
X360/PS3/PC/DS
8.3M
94%
November/Shooter
Activision/Infinity Wars (X360/PS3/PC), n-Space (DS)
Steve Hogarty (CVG): “…Call of Duty 4 expands on the series mightily. Its Middle Eastern and Russian locales, while still linear, feel far more open than the ruined streets of Occupied France ever were, and every mission contains at least one sweet chunk of surprise and delight.”
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This comprehensive list compiles sales data of each game across all platforms, and presents each game with full context, including publisher, developer(s), genre, enthusiast press review score aggregates, and more. This presents a unique view into how the top-selling games of the year found that success, and what publishers can do to maximize their own sales.
If you want to compare this data to last years US data, check out
the 2007 edition of The Games People Buy.
We will have the complete analysis of this data tomorrow, presenting in easily digestible form how sales were effected by each publisher decision—we will also be looking at how successful each publisher was. For now though, here are some interesting, at-a-glance takeaways:
...it still looks likes the best way to find success is to pump millions of dollars into an exclusive title of superlative quality, or snap up a license and shoot a version to every viable platform there is.
- Madden is no longer an anomalous success—in previous years, the Madden series existed as an outlier on the scatter chart, a franchise that had success far outstripping its competition. This year Madden continued to sell at historically high levels, but now several competitors from a variety of genres sold in similar or excessive numbers. This was not just a result of including European numbers, either. Even in Madden’s home territory, several blockbuster hits threatened its dominance.
- The PS2 is far from dead—contrary to popular belief, the PS2 is not limping along on life support. In fact the PS2 market is a vibrant one that continues to be successful, thanks to the huge installed base and lower price point of games for the system. This is particularly evident in sales numbers for sports and licensed games. The vast majority of multiplatform titles in these genres found the most success on the older PlayStation model. The PS2 is still the system the masses play games on.
- Consumers are looking for more Wii Sports—Most sports games were most successful on the PS2, yes, but this was not the case for sports games with genres represented on Wii Sports. Multiplatform golf and baseball games surprisingly did best on Wii.
- Exclusives still rule, and Wii rules exclusives—out of the 100 games on this list, a full 34 are exclusive to one platform. The Wii’s unique development environment ensured it the plurality of these exclusives, with eleven games on this list (twelve if you count Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition). The DS has a similar number, while the Xbox 360 only mustered a tepid three.
- The common knowledge still applies—just like last year, it still looks likes the best way to find success is to pump millions of dollars into an exclusive title of superlative quality, or snap up a license and shoot a version to every viable platform there is. This year a third route has opened up; making an inexpensive Wii and/or DS game and hoping it strikes a chord in the consciousness of the consumer. While the data does show that this plan was successful multiple times in 2007, this is a crowded field based on the rapidly depreciating novelty value of the Wii. It is likely that such strategies will not be fruitful in the future.
This is just a small sampling of conclusions it is possible to draw from this data; our full analysis will run tomorrow. If you would like to see how this year's numbers compare to last year's US numbers, check out
The Games People Buy 2007.
Notes:
- Numbers are based on official records from NPD and information provided to Next-Gen by publishers. Publicly available data and analysis was also taken into account, as well as dead reckoning and sanity checking from the Next-Gen staff when exact counts (such as unified sales data for Europe) were difficult to corroborate, conflicting, or unavailable.
- Numbers take into account only titles released and sold between March 1, 2007 and March 1, 2008. Each game only had to be released in one western territory to be included.
- Numbers take into account North America and Western Europe only.
- Numbers represent retail sales only.
- Pack-in titles were not counted.
- Older games re-released in the last year were only included if they included significant changes beyond a lower price. Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition is an example of the former (thanks to its new control scheme). Hitman Trilogy, a collection of three Hitman games with no content changes, would be an example of the latter.
In the case of multiplatform games, the platform the game sold best on is listed first. The Metacritic score is the score the game received for its bestselling platform version. Quotes were taken from reviews that best reflected this score. Thanks to Metacritic and all journalists and publications quoted.
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