Last year, game sales were huge because more people stayed home during the pandemic. Well-known game brands have become popular with excellent entertainment. This led to huge sales for Call of Duty, Madden and anything Nintendo. And according to industry tracking firm The NPD Group, you’ll find them all in the top 20 best-selling games of 2020 in the United States.
Here is the full position:
| Rank | Top 20 Games in 2020 (Physical and full game digital from the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation, STEAM and Xbox platforms for publishers in the Digital Leader Panel) broken down by dollar sales | Publisher | |
| 1 | Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War | Activision Blizzard (Corp) | |
| 2 | Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | Activision Blizzard (Corp) | |
| 3 | Animal crossing: new horizons * | Nintendo | |
| 4 | Madden NFL 21 | Electronic Arts | |
| 5 | Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Ubisoft | |
| 6 | The Last of Us: Part II | Sony (Corp) | |
| 7 | Ghost of Tsushima | Sony (Corp) | |
| 8 | Mario Kart 8: Deluxe * | Nintendo | |
| 9 | Super Mario 3D All-Stars * | Nintendo | |
| 10 | Final Fantasy VII: Remake | Square Enix Inc (Corp) | |
| 11 | Marvel’s Avengers | Square Enix Inc (Corp) | |
| 12 | Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales | Sony (Corp) | |
| 13 | NBA 2K21 * | Take 2 Interactive (Corp) | |
| 14 | Super Smash Bros. Ultimate * | Nintendo | |
| 15 | FIFA 21 | Electronic Arts | |
| 16 | Mortal Kombat 11 | Warner Bros. Interactive | |
| 17 | Dragon Ball Z: Cockroaches | Bandai Namco Entertainment | |
| 18 | MLB: The show 20 | Sony (Corp) | |
| 19 | Cyberpunk 2077 * | Warner Bros. Interactive | |
| 20 | Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 | Activision Blizzard (Corp) | |
| * Digital sales not included |
Total video game sales also set a new $ 57 billion record in all categories. This is 27% higher than on an annual basis. The release of new hardware was a major factor behind the growth. But the game content and accessories have also grown.
According to NPD, the complete results for 2020 are:
| 2020 dollar sales, millions | 2019 | 2020 | CHG | |
| Total sales of video games | $ 44,926 | $ 56 905 | 27% | |
| Video hardware | $ 3,937 | $ 5,307 | 35% | |
| Video game content (physical and digital full-game, DLC / MTX and subscription spending on console, cloud, mobile *, portable, computer and VR platforms) | $ 38 824 | $ 48 981 | 26% | |
| Video Game Accessories | $ 2 165 | $ 2,617 | 21% | |
| * Mobile spending by Sensor Tower |
Call of Duty
Call of Duty is once again the obvious winner on this chart. The series has the top two slots with Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War and 2020’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare at No. 2 in 2020.
“Call of Duty is a record for the twelfth consecutive year as the top-selling franchise in the U.S. market,” said Mat Piscatella, an analyst at NPD.
Nintendo
Nintendo is one of the other standouts for 2020. And while the company has a hit in games like Animal Cross: New Horizons, it also sees success in its library.
“Half of the top 20 best-selling games of December 2020 were published by Nintendo,” Piscatella said. “In 2020, Animal Crossing achieved the highest physical dollar sales for a Nintendo-released game in a calendar year since Wii Fit Plus in 2010.”
Cyberpunk 2077
Developer CD Projekt Red has earlier confirmed that it has sold more than 13 million copies of Cyberpunk 2077. But the studio does not share digital sales data with The NPD Group. Nevertheless, the game still performed well through its physical sales.
“Cyberpunk 2077 is the second best-selling game of December,” Piscatella said. “And this is the 19th best-selling game of 2020, despite the lack of digital tracking.”
The Last of Us Part II
PlayStation’s exclusive big budget, The Last of Us Part II, was also a success.
“The Last of Us: Part II finished 2020 as the best-selling exclusive PlayStation year, while also being the sixth best-selling title overall,” Piscatella said. “The Last of Us: Part II is now becoming the third best Sony-released game in US history in dollar sales, following only Marvel’s Spider-Man and God of War of 2018.”
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