A list of the top ten best-selling games from the past decade have dropped, confirming that people apparently really like Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty. There have been some truly great games released over the past decade, many of which never truly got the love they deserve. Titles like BioShock Infinite and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild are some of the greatest games ever released, but quality doesn't always ensure high sales as both failed to make the top ten list.
Looking at annual sales, it always appeared as if a Call of Duty entry or two would be a frontrunner for placement on such a list, while other sales successes from the past decade have included a number of triumphs like Pokemon GO. Niantic's aforemtnioned mobile take on the pocket monster franchise actually just had its most profitable year ever in 2019, but the nature of the game exlcusided it for inclusion on this US sales list.
Instead, the entirety of the list is based on dollar sales in the United States of America. This means cash exchanged for physical/digital software rather than free-to-play iniatives like the previously touched on Pokemon GO or even Epic Games' super popular Fortnite. These numbers have been compiled by the NDP Group (via Mat Piscatella on Twitter) and are in order from first to last. Check it out below.
- Grand Theft Auto 5 (Take-Two Interactive)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops (Activision Blizzard)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (Activision Blizzard)
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision Blizzard)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (Activision Blizzard)
- Call of Duty: Ghosts (Activision Blizzard)
- Red Dead Redemption 2 (Take-Two Interactive)
- Call of Duty: WWII (Activision Blizzard)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (Activision Blizzard)
- Minecraft (Microsoft)
Call of Duty/Activision absolutely dominated the charts, nabbing a total of seven spots in the top ten. While that's a scarily impressive feat for any franchise to achieve, Rockstar Games/Take-Two also got a fair bit of love by scoring the top spot with Grand Theft Auto 5 and the 7th spot with the more recent Red Dead Redemption 2. Meanwhile, Minecraft managed to sneak onto the list at number 10, which is a fantastic position for the Microsoft-owned series to be in.
All in all, none of the placements come as a shock. Each of these titles have proven to be absolute juggernatus since their launch, and success is likely to continue for each of the companies and franchises featured on this list. What will be really interesting is to see what makes the list for the next decade.
Source: Matt Piscatella - Twitter