As we speak’s hottest and best-selling video games usually embrace costly first-party exclusives, huge multiplayer hits, and ageing titles like GTA V that stick round years after launch. However that wasn’t the case 20 years in the past, as seen in newly printed gross sales knowledge.
On Wednesday, Mat Piscatella, government director and online game business advisor at Circana, posted a picture on Twitter exhibiting the best-selling video video games in July 2014 and July 2004. The info from 10 years in the past is attention-grabbing, particularly as a result of loads of video games like Mario Kart 8, Minecraft, and GTA V which have been huge again then are nonetheless seen on best-seller lists in 2024.
July 2014 High 20 Premium Software program Titles
- The Final of Us
- FIFA 14
- Watch Canines
- Mario Kart 8
- Minecraft
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Name of Obligation: Ghosts
- Sniper Elite III
- UFC
- NBA 2K14
- Battlefield 4
- Wolfenstein: The New Order
- Titanfall
- The LEGO Film Videogame
- Murderer’s Creed IV: Black Flag
- Pokemon X/Y
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Injustice: Gods Amongst Us
- 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil
- MLB 14: The Present
However what we’re actually right here to have a look at is the July 2004 knowledge, because it supplies a 20-year time capsule of the online game business and the way completely different it was twenty years in the past. Right here’s that listing:
July 2004 High 20 Premium Software program Titles
- NCAA Soccer 2005
- Spider-Man 2
- NFL 2K5
- Driver 3
- Tales of Symphonia
- Shrek 2
- MVP Baseball 2004
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
- Pokemon: Ruby/Sapphire
- Halo: Fight Advanced
- Want for Pace: Underground
- Mega Man: Anniversary Assortment
- Crimson Useless Revolver
- Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction
- Struggle Night time 2004
- Mega Man: Battle Community 4
- The Sims
- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004
- Legend of Zelda: 4 Swords
The very first thing that stands out is the sport on the prime. It’s not a Name of Obligation, a Grand Theft Auto, or perhaps a huge RPG or sci-fi motion recreation. Nope. It’s EA Sports activities’ NCAA Soccer 2005. It’s been a very long time since that has occurred, however the latest school soccer recreation from EA—the primary in over a decade—is exploding and would possibly find yourself on the prime of July 2024’s best-selling video games listing.
In the meantime, Shrek 2—a licensed action-adventure recreation primarily based on the animated film—is within the prime ten, beating out titles like Crimson Useless Revolver, Want for Pace: Underground, and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. I can’t keep in mind the final time a film tie-in recreation cracked the highest charts. And hey, have a look at that! Mega-Man, Driver, and Yu-Gi-Oh! are within the prime 20, t00. It was actually a distinct period again then, huh?
And evaluating this previous listing to Might 2024’s best-selling video games, it’s clear that whereas loads has modified, some issues keep the identical. Baseball video games promote effectively and other people nonetheless like Spider-Man sequels.
Might 2024’s Greatest-Promoting Video games
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Paper Mario: The Thousand-Yr Door
- Name of Obligation: Trendy Warfare III (2023)
- Helldivers II
- MLB: The Present 24
- Sea of Thieves
- Minecraft
- Elden Ring
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Stellar Blade
- Fallout 4
- EA Sports activities FC 24
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- Homeworld 3
- Mario Kart 8
- Madden NFL 24
- Rise of the Ronin
- F1 24
- Mortal Kombat 1
- Dragon’s Dogma II
.