These are the best-selling games of 2014, NPD says

[Jos]

Market analysis firm NPD has released its monthly gaming data and included a list of the top 10 best-selling games from last year. So what did people buy the most? Once again, familiar franchises dominated the top spots, with Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Madden NFL 15 leading the charge.

That’s big news for Activision considering Advanced Warfare was only released in November. Ubisoft’s major fall releases like Far Cry 4 and Assassin’s Creed Unity are notably missing, but Watch Dogs made number 8.

Bungie’s Destiny ranked third, followed by Grand Theft Auto V and Minecraft in the fourth and fifth positions. The latter finished at no. 9 in 2013 but its release on PS3, Xbox One, and PS4 last year helped it move up the list. Of course, NPD only tracks physical retail across consoles and PCs, and not digital sales, so things might look a bit different with complete sales data.

Overall the games industry in the US alone was able to pull in $13.1 billion in revenue for 2014, a yearly increase of 1% from 2013. Broken down by category this is attributable to a 20% jump in hardware sales to $5.07 billion, and a 5% increase in accessory sales to $2.73 billion; both of which offset a 13% drop in game sales to $5.3 billion when compared to 2013.

While things might look bleak on the games front, once again without digital sales data it’s hard to tell if there’s an actual decrease or if it’s made up for from more gamers now purchasing and downloading their games online.

Check out the full software sales charts for December and 2014 below.

Best selling 2014

• Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (360, XBO, PS4, PS3, PC)
• Madden NFL 15 (360, PS4, XBO, PS3)
• Destiny (XBO, PS4, 360, PS3)
• Grand Theft Auto V (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3)
• Minecraft (360, PS3, XBO, PS4)
• Super Smash Bros. (3DS, NWU)
• NBA 2K15 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3, PC)
• Watch Dogs (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3, PC, NWU)
• FIFA 15 (360, PS4, XBO, PS3, Wii, 3DS, PSV)
• Call Of Duty: Ghosts (360, PS3, XBO, PS4, NWU, PC)

Best selling December 2014

• Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (360, XBO, PS4, PS3, PC)
• Grand Theft Auto V (XBO, PS4, 360, PS3)
• Madden NFL 15 (360, XBO, PS4, PS3)
• Super Smash Bros. (NWU, 3DS)
• NBA 2K15 (360, XBO, PS4, PS3, PC)
• Minecraft (360, XBO, PS3, PS4)
• Far Cry 4 (PS4, XBO, 360, PS3, PC)
• Just Dance 2015 (Wii, 360, NWU, XBO, PS4, PS3)
• Destiny (XBO, 360, PS4, PS3)
• FIFA 15 (360, XBO, PS4, PS3, Wii, 3DS, PSV)

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https://www.techspot.com/news/59431-best-selling-games-2014-npd.html

 

[Cycloid Torus]

Difficult to believe the survey without downloads. I haven't purchased a retail "box" game since 2010 while I have purchased close to 20 games through download.

What about you other TSers, what is your ratio / count of "box" to "download"?

 

[RebelFlag]

I can't remember the last time I bought a boxed game. All of my game purchases are downloads.

 

[Grazen]

I've been all digital since 2013 across 360, PS3, PC, ONE, PS4 and 3DS. These numbers are increasingly irrelevant, particularly when it comes to the PC, I mean does anybody buy physical copies of games for the PC any more?

 

[Guest]

This is only in America right ? Cause anyone anywhere else who buys an NFL game needs a slap upside the head, that is one crap sport.

 

[treeski]

What a boring list of top games.

 

[9Nails]

I picked up my games second hand through Gamestop's holiday three for the price of two special. This isn't to say that games aren't worth the full prices, I sometimes will buy a full priced game. But I have a significant number of opportunities for equally enjoyable titles at lower prices.

 

[noel24]

Well, apparently GTA5 havn't made another $2bln nexgen consoles, but I don't think pushing PC port mere 2 months will make much difference, so get ready it will be pushed again "to make it as good as possible". I just hope Take2Interactive investors won't expect few billion $ every year, or they will go the way of EA/Ubi, making V the last good game in the series...

 

[EEatGDL]

Difficult to believe the survey without downloads. I haven't purchased a retail "box" game since 2010 while I have purchased close to 20 games through download.

What about you other TSers, what is your ratio / count of "box" to "download"?

Last game I purchased in box was in 2004; after that I've bought almost a hundred downloaded.

 

[Kibaruk]

I think the last boxed game I bought was SC2, and before that it was... the original WoW. I do own over 600 titles in Steam though, it's funny because I have the same time as boxed games vs digital games ratio =) (Which is close to 0).

 

[VitalyT]

And how does it compare to the best-buying games?

 

[cliffordcooley]

Since I don't want to keep an optical disk in the DVD drive, all my games have been purchased through Steam. I would love to have a hard copy, but not at the expense of unnecessarily wearing it out.

 

[Kibaruk]

Since I don't want to keep an optical disk in the DVD drive, all my games have been purchased through Steam. I would love to have a hard copy, but not at the expense of unnecessarily wearing it out.

I think that it's more about having a nice box for a geeky display than the actual disk, at least that was what drove me to buy a boxed copy of SC2 and I'm planning into getting some collectible game editions with goodies and what not.

 

[Guest]

How many are in here due to bundling with the console.

 

[Xero07]

Difficult to believe the survey without downloads. I haven't purchased a retail "box" game since 2010 while I have purchased close to 20 games through download.

What about you other TSers, what is your ratio / count of "box" to "download"?

I download PC games, and buy the box for console games.

 

[TomSEA]

Like everyone else, I haven't bought a boxed PC game in years. Are they still even available? However, I do buy boxed games for my WiiU. These "best selling" surveys are frankly *****ic without accounting for digital sales.

 

[loading]

This is only in America right ? Cause anyone anywhere else who buys an NFL game needs a slap upside the head, that is one crap sport.

As opposed to what? Soccer? (or European Football if you will) Maybe more people like the NFL then you think.

Don't get me wrong... I think anyone buying a sports game should get knocked upside the head.

 

[thorpj]

So this is just physical sales? Then this is worthless.

For one, they're market analysis has missed most of the market. Minecraft PC sales alone would make a huge difference.

Secondly, I think that console gamers are more inclined to buy discs. Console gamers are more inclined to play games like CoD Ghosts, or Madden 15 (which isn't on PC). And we all know Ghosts doesn't deserve a spot on any "Top __ Games of 201_"

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Here's the list of games I bought in 2014:
1. ?
2. Ditto
3. More of the same

Oh well, maybe this year will be a bit better but I'm not gonna hold my breath. I may splash out on GTA V but only if it's a decent port.

I don't know why I have all this expensive hardware, I'm not really making any use of it.

 

[gamoniac]

This is only in America right ? Cause anyone anywhere else who buys an NFL game needs a slap upside the head, that is one crap sport.

I like soccer too, but once you get to really know American football, you will really appreciate the intensity and strategies involved. The scoring system alone, which might first appear to make no sense, is vastly exciting compared to the usual 1-point-per-score. Then again, if you have already made up your mind about it...

 

[andrewyoung]

I can't remember the last time I bought a boxed game. All of my game purchases are downloads.

same here

 

[Guest]

When I decide to buy old games I skipped years ago I always look on eBay for new physical copies in case someone is selling the physical item at similar/lower prices than just the download. That way I don't need to backup the game folder like I do with Steam, Ubisoft, Origin downloads. Also part of my physical game case collection.

 

[Guest]

Half of these sales are probably down to recent origin fraudulent game purchase's