The NPD Group has never been too keen on sharing their historical lists of best-selling games, but that might be changing. Using data from the analyst firm’s vast archive, Mat Piscatella recently tried to pull back the curtain a little bit by sharing the list of best-selling games on several legacy consoles (the Saturn, the original PlayStation, the Nintendo 64, the Game Boy Color, and the Dreamcast) and a nearly defunct handheld (the Vita). He also examined the best-selling games through September 2018 on two modern consoles (the PS4 and Xbox One) and published a list of the top-selling titles for each year from 1995 to 2017.
It’s a very interesting collection of information, and the lists provide our best window yet into what games were considered popular in the United States in the 1990s and into today.
The PS4 and Xbox One are two very similar machines, and aside from a few first-party exclusives, their game libraries are almost identical. This comparison is further borne out with the NPD’s sales data, which shows Grand Theft Auto V on top for both platforms, followed by four games in the Call of Duty franchise, Battlefield 1, and Star Wars: Battlefront:
Best-Selling Games on the PS4 (Through September 2018)
1. Grand Theft Auto V
2. Call of Duty: WWII
3. Call of Duty: Black Ops III
4. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
5. NBA 2K18
6. Battlefield 1
7. God of War
8. Star Wars: Battlefront
9. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
10. NBA 2K17
Best-Selling Games on the Xbox One (Through September 2018)
1. Grand Theft Auto V
2. Call of Duty: WWII
3. Call of Duty: Black Ops III
4. Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
5. Battlefield 1
6. Star Wars: Battlefront
7. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
8. Halo 5: Guardians
9. Destiny 2
10. Fallout 4
The Vita was Sony’s second swing at creating a console-like experience on a handheld, and these big games dominate its list of best-sellers. Uncharted: Golden Abyss leads the way, and it’s followed by several games that started out as (or stayed) exclusive to the handheld:
Best-Selling Games on the Vita (Through September 2018)
1. Uncharted: Golden Abyss
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified
3. Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation
4. Mortal Kombat
5. LittleBigPlanet
6. Need For Speed: Most Wanted
7. Killzone: Mercenary
8. Persona 4 Golden
9. Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3
10. Unit 13
Going back in time, Sega’s Saturn launched the fifth console generation in 1995, and Madden NFL 97 became the platform’s best-selling game. But it was Sega’s stable of arcade conversions (Virtua Fighter 2, Virtua Cop, Daytona USA, Sega Rally Championship) and “cult” classics (Nights Into Dreams, Panzer Dragoon) that filled out the majority of the top ten:
Best-Selling Games on the Saturn
1. Madden NFL 97
2. Nights Into Dreams
3. Virtua Fighter 2
4. Daytona USA
5. Virtua Cop
6. Tomb Raider
7. Sega Rally Championship
8. Sonic 3D Blast
9. World Series Baseball
10. Panzer Dragoon
Crash Bandicoot, Gran Turismo, and Final Fantasy VII are the three games most synonymous with the original PlayStation, so it’s not at all surprising to see they’re also the platform’s best-selling titles. Metal Gear Solid is in there too, as is the first game in the Driver series:
Best-Selling Games on the PlayStation
1. Crash Bandicoot
2. Gran Turismo
3. Final Fantasy VII
4. Gran Turismo 2
5. Crash Bandicoot: Warped
6. Tekken 3
7. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2
8. Metal Gear Solid
9. Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
10. Driver
It could be argued that Nintendo produced their strongest first-party lineup during the Nintendo 64’s heyday, and that’s extremely evident in the NPD’s list of best-selling games. All ten titles were published by the consolemaker (even Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire), but most fans were sold on the system by the groundbreaking Super Mario 64:
Best-Selling Games on the Nintendo 64
1. Super Mario 64
2. GoldenEye 007
3. Mario Kart 64
4. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
5. Pokemon Stadium
6. Donkey Kong 64
7. Star Fox 64
8. Super Smash Bros.
9. Diddy Kong Racing
10. Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
Pokemon may have started its story on the original Game Boy, but the Game Boy Color entries were just as popular. Pokemon Gold (#2) and Pokemon Silver (#1) are on top, and they were followed by three more games in the franchise:
Best-Selling Games on the Game Boy Color
1. Pokemon Silver
2. Pokemon Gold
3. Super Mario Bros. DX
4. Pokemon Pinball
5. Pokemon Crystal
6. Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories
7. The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX
8. Donkey Kong Country
9. Pokemon Trading Card Game
10. The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages
Sega sold off its stable of sports simulations in 2005, but the 2K series is a major part of why the Dreamcast is so fondly remembered. That why it’s NFL 2K, and not Sonic Adventure, at the top:
Best-Selling Games on the Dreamcast
1. NFL 2K
2. NFL 2K1
3. Sonic Adventure
4. NBA 2K
5. NBA 2K1
6. Crazy Taxi
7. Soul Calibur
8. Ready 2 Rumble Boxing
9. Shenmue
10. Resident Evil: Code Veronica
Finally, Piscatella examines the best-selling games by year, and the consistency is remarkable.
The Nintendo 64’s loyal fanbase ensured that the console’s best-selling game of the year was also the overall best-selling game of the year from 1996-2000. That was followed by a six-year streak where the latest entry in the Madden series traded off with Grand Theft Auto sequels as the top game. And the short-lived music game fad propelled Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Rock Band to the top of the chart in 2007 and 2008.
Since then, video game fans have answered the Call of Duty in huge numbers (aside from Grand Theft Auto V‘s entry in 2013):
Best-Selling Game of the Year
1996 – Super Mario 64
1997 – Mario Kart 64
1998 – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
1999 – Donkey Kong 64
2000 – Pokemon Stadium
2001 – Madden NFL 2002
2002 – Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
2003 – Madden NFL 2004
2004 – Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
2005 – Madden NFL 06
2006 – Madden NFL 07
2007 – Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
2008 – Rock Band
2009 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2010 – Call of Duty: Black Ops
2011 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
2012 – Call of Duty: Black Ops II
2013 – Grand Theft Auto V
2014 – Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
2015 – Call of Duty: Black Ops III
2016 – Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
2017 – Call of Duty: WWII
That’s all for now, but hopefully Piscatella posts more historical sales data from the NPD’s archives, because this is a corner of the game industry that we don’t get to see very often.
