IN the music charts, Christmas number one used to be revered, and suddenly, it was dominated by X Factor and Pop Idol winners year after year. Well the same has been happening in gaming.
Despite games like Elden Ring, and God of War Ragnarök sweeping up at award shows, it is FIFA 23 that sold best this year, as FIFA 22 did the year before.
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In fact, in the almost 40-year history of best-selling gaming charts, FIFA games take 10 of the top spots, only matched by the Call of Duty series.
This means that the two series make up the top spot 50% of years.
There are some stand-out games that have reached the best-sellers list, notably Sonic the Hedgehog 2, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and Skyrim.
However, many of the other games that top the charts are movie or TV tie-ins, such as Ghostbusters, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
It seems that when consumers go video game shopping, they more often than not reach for the familiar.
The Call of Duty series, and FIFA games are known for being essentially the same game with minor tweaks and improvements.
While licensed games remind us of the films and shows we already know and love.
Even some older games like Red Dead Redemption 2, and Grand Theft Auto 5 — a game that was originally released nine years ago — continued to sell well sneaking into the top ten this year.
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Some of this year’s critically acclaimed games sold well in the months following their releases, but the sales trickled off further into the year.
Not a single new IP made it into the top ten throughout the year except Elden Ring, which comes from the background of the popular Dark Souls games.
Looking at statistics like these, it goes some way into explaining why new IPs are seen as a risk compared to existing fan favourites.
However, some newer series, such as Splatoon 3, and Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, manage to make it to the charts, despite only having one or two games behind them.
It looks like a game has to be an absolute standout to compete with these long-established series.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
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