It's Hard To Blame Them...

So, there's some new information from Circana (a market research
group; it's okay if you've never heard of them) showing the top-ten
selling PC/console games from the last 23 years*. I put a list of the
highest-selling games each year below.

And, you know, looking at the list, I can't help but think. I give
companies like EA and Ubisoft and BlizzaVision a hard-time for
constantly putting out uninspired sequels year after year rather than,
you know, investing in something new that might challenge gamers more
than the same ol' pabulum... but at the same time, it's hard to blame
them.

People BUY that shit. Happily. Year after year. If you have the choice
of pouring your heart and soul (and a lot of money) into a new project
that may or may not be accepted by the masses versus some garbage
project you can easily hack up without much effort, can you really
blame somebody if they go the easy route?

Triple-A publishers are a definite scourge on the hobby... but we
gamers deserve a lot of the blame too. 12 years Call of Duty was the
best selling game! No wonder the industry is in the state it is.


2000 Pokemon Gold/Silver
2001 Madden NFL 2002
2002 Grand Theft Auto Vice City
2003 Madden NFL 2004
2004 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
2005 Madden NFL 2006
2006 Madden NFL 07
2007 Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock
2008 Rock Band
2009 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2010 Call of Duty: Black Ops
2011 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
2012 Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
2013 Grand Theft Auto V
2014 Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
2015 Call of Duty: Black Ops III
2016 Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
2017 Call of Duty: WWII
2018 Red Dead Redemption
2019 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
2020 Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War
2021 Call of Duty: Vanguard
2022 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022)
2023 Hogwart's Legacy





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* here's the full list:
https://www.circana.com/intelligence/entertainment-top-10/2024/gaming-through-the-decades-us-top-20-best-selling-video-games/