It’s been nearly six years since the Xbox One brought Microsoft’s gaming platform into the current generation, and in that time a lot of popular games have come to the platform. And it turns out a lot of these games have managed to become its best-selling games, according to NPD analyst Mat Piscatella this past week.
Having shared NPD’s lists of the best-selling PlayStation 4 games and exclusives, Piscatella did the same for the Xbox One to commemorate Microsoft’s recent Inside Xbox livestream. He revealed two lists covering sales data in the US, one for the top ten best-selling Xbox One exclusives, the other for the top ten overall best-selling games on the platform.
It should come as no surprise that that list is totally lacking in surprises. Of course, Grand Theft Auto 5 is at the top, but that was a given anyway, since Grand Theft Auto 5 is one of the best-selling games ever, period. But as far as franchises go, the Call of Duty series boasts the strongest presence, with a grand total of five games filling spots up and down the list. It’s a good indicator of what’s been successful on the Xbox One, because, as the rest of the full list shows, its overall best-sellers are near-exclusively shooters.
1.) Grand Theft Auto 5
2.) Call of Duty: WW2
3.) Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
4.) Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
5.) Red Dead Redemption 2
6.) Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
7.) Battlefield 1
8.) Star Wars Battlefront
9.) Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
10.) Destiny 2
A little more variety can be found in the list of best-selling system exclusives. There’s the expected mix of Halo, Gears of War, and Forza titles, but there are a few surprises near the bottom of the list like Sea of Thieves and State of Decay 2 as well. Piscatella also pointed out that the list below also covers the PC sales of these titles, as the Xbox Play Anywhere program makes them available on both platforms. "It is impossible to separate sales of these games between PC and the Console. It's one platform," he said.
1.) Halo 5: Guardians
2.) Halo: The Master Chief Collection
3.) Forza Horizon 3
4.) Gears of War 4
5.) Forza Horizon 4
6.) Forza Motorsport 5
7.) Sea of Thieves
8.) Forza Motorsport 6
9.) Forza Motorsport 7
10.) State of Decay 2
Interestingly, none of these titles managed to join the third-party games in the overall top-ten list for the Xbox One, something a number of PS4 exclusives have been able to do on their platform. It’s just one of the ways Sony has managed to hold a lead over Microsoft in this console generation, as demonstrated most recently by Sony acquiring Xbox One exclusive Sunset Overdrive.
Going into the holiday season and next year, there’s potential for new games to join the Xbox One’s best-seller lists. That could happen very soon, as Piscatella previously predicted that Xbox One-compatible titles like Borderlands 3 and the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will be among the best-selling games of 2019.
Source: MatPiscatella/Twitter