The Top 10 Best Selling Games in 2005 are...

[Kain Vincent]

- GameSpot reported the US Top 10 Best Selling Videogames in 2005, EA's Madden NFL 06 is the best selling title with over 2.9 million copies sold.


Madden NFL 06 (PS2, EA) - 2.9 million units
Pokemon Emerald (GBA, Nintendo) - 1.7 million units
Gran Turismo 4 (PS2, SCEA) - 1.5 million units
Madden NFL 06 (Xbox, EA) - 1.2 million units
NCAA Football 06 (PS2, EA) - 1.1 million units
Star Wars: BattleFront II (PS2, LucasArts) - 1 million units
MVP Baseball 2005 (PS2, EA) - 970,000 units
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (PS2, LucasArts) - 930,000 units
NBA Live 06 (PS2, EA) - 820,000 units
LEGO Star Wars (PS2, Eidos) - 800,000 units
I'm shocked to not see RE4 or God of War on the list. However, I still amazed to LEGO Star Wars on the list.

[pimpinc333]

Everyone likes LEGOs. Yea big shocker GoW or RE4.

[shipwreck]

There are no "M"-rated games to be seen in the top 10! C'mon parents, who's going to train the killers of tomorrow? Or are we actually to the point where parents are actually reading the ratings? Maybe the Hot Coffee thing woke some people up.

[shieryda]

What?! No Nintendogs?!!!

[dtcarson]

This helps show that, unfortunately, 'niche' titles still have their work cut out for them. 9 out of the 10 of them are direct sequels, and the tenth is a version of a story most everyone knows [admittedly, a creative, humourous version thereof].
And most of them are sports sequels! How much difference can there be between football/basketball/baseball one year and the next?

[top-ramon]

lol

[Graystone]

Half that list is owned by EA. I agree with everyone no GoW or RE4, hell Nintendogs was extremely popular that was the only game we (my last job) could not keep in stock and we got 15-20 at a time.
I do notice that that lists screams of two things, Children and mainstream gamers.

[kakomu]

God of War is simple. It's still retailing for $40. If it had gone done in price a while back, then it probably could have sold more units.

[I AM WILLIAM H. MACY]

Pokemon Emerald (GBA, Nintendo) - 1.7 million units
MVP Baseball 2005 (PS2, EA) - 970,000 units
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (PS2, LucasArts) - 930,000 units
LEGO Star Wars (PS2, Eidos) - 800,000 units
These ones really surprised me. WTF, ROTS? That game was poo.

And where's GTA: Liberty City Stories? And why so much PS2 and so little anything else? And I thought Pokeman wasn't popular anymore?

[BustaUppa]

I have no stats to back this up, but I don't think the DS user base is large enough to produce a top-10 title yet (hence the lack of Nintendogs love). And I'm not hatin'... hell, I just bought a DS this weekend.

[dafunkk12]

I think Nintendogs isn't on the list because each version's sales numbers are tracked individually. I think my big surprise is how many more PS2 Madden's were sold than Xbox. RE4, I'll attribute to all the people who don't own a Gamecube, and GoW...well, everyone here keeps whining about waiting for a price drop first.

[neocisco]

I was surprised GT4 got as high as it did.

[PieLover]

Shadow of The Colossus would be on there if the average consumer knew what a good game was.

[rywateska]

For better or worse I only played one game from that list. Goes to show what the informed gamer spends his money on.

[msdmoney]

As always it is surprising to see the top 10 list, of which I only own one game, GT4.
The part that disturbs me the most is all the Star Wars games, just proves all you need is the Star Wars license to sell a mediocre game (I've heard good things about Battlefront 2 but not ROTS).

[botticus]

I was surprised GT4 got as high as it did.
Well, people here did make quite a bit of profit off of EB's trade in deals for GT4, it probably didn't hurt its numbers.

[Vinny]

Amazing how well sequels, sports games, and big names continue to sell... of all the games on that list, the only one that really belongs there is GT4.

[KingDox]

if someone could post the numbers that each Nintendogs title pulled that would interesting to see what they total.

[Roufuss]

God of War is simple. It's still retailing for $40. If it had gone done in price a while back, then it probably could have sold more units.

Gran Turismo is still $49.99, so that blows that logic out of the water.

I love these lists, because all the message board people always shit their pants when they realize that the casual gamer still rules the sales charts.

[TimPV3]

I love these lists, because all the message board people always shit their pants when they realize that the casual gamer still rules the sales charts.
Hah, so true.

[PittsburghAfterDark]

I'm shocked that only 5 games (I'm not counting 2 versions of Madden PS2/Xbox as seperate software.) sold more than 1,000,000 units in 2005. That just can't be right.

I know RE 4 wouldn't hit a mil being on the Cube exclusively for so long but GOW? Wow, that's a surprise. No Halo 2? Another surprise. A million gamers didn't pick it up after December 31st? Another surprise. No GTA? At all? I'd like to see 11-30. I have a feeling lots of the games we think sold well came close but didn't crack the top 10.

These lists always depress me as a gamer. The only game on there I played was Battlefront II (Xbox) and that was a rental.

[RelentlessRolento]

it's always a given that sports titles rack up the highest sales... usually madden (bleh!).

[kakomu]

Gran Turismo is still $49.99, so that blows that logic out of the water.

I love these lists, because all the message board people always shit their pants when they realize that the casual gamer still rules the sales charts.
It's also infinitely more popular. If you sell a game that isn't particularly popular for $40, it's not going to sell as well as a popular franchise for $50.

[Vegan]

Wow I'm surprised at all the sports titles.

[Doom Gaze]

2 genuine games in Gran Turismo and Pokemon. The fact that not a single DS game is on there reflects very poorly on the current gaming population.

Down with EA crap, liscened crap, and sports games.

[Stice]

A lot of the games on there make sense if you consider the majority of people who play video games are casual. If anything, I'm surprised Lego didn't make it higher because Star Wars is so popular.

[defiance_17]

That list can't be right. Nintendo claimed Mario Kart DS had sold over a million copies by the first week in January. The three versions of Nintendogs sold 1.5 million combined.

http://planetgamecube.com/news.cfm?action=item&id=6707

[rabbitt]

That list makes me vomit.

[TC]

Wow I haven't played one game on that list.

[I AM WILLIAM H. MACY]

That list can't be right. Nintendo claimed Mario Kart DS had sold over a million copies by the first week in January. The three versions of Nintendogs sold 1.5 million combined.

http://planetgamecube.com/news.cfm?action=item&id=6707
Nintendogs is mostly likely counted for each individual title rather than the 3 together

[niceguyshawne]

Wow I haven't played one game on that list.


I was just thinking that too.

[defiance_17]

Nintendogs is mostly likely counted for each individual title rather than the 3 together

I know, I just saw someone had asked about it, so I threw the number out there.

[Tyga24]

I'm not surprised but it definitely is the causal gamer that still rules the charts. Just looking at these titles and just remembering the marketing I saw for most of these games (especially the EA titles) I can see how the parents and others would pick up these titles over others. I am surprised not to see one "M" Rated game in there but I guess Hot Cofee did have some impact upon game sales this year.

[Scahom1]

Gran Turismo is still $49.99, so that blows that logic out of the water.

I love these lists, because all the message board people always shit their pants when they realize that the casual gamer still rules the sales charts.

Yea...and God forbid a "hardcore" gamer is into sports.

[swetooth9]

And I thought Pokeman wasn't popular anymore?

it might not be popular, but it's still good i guess

[trunks982]

i have to say that list is BS

[Brak]

The list makes sense.

A lot of the titles people are bringing up are niche-specific titles. Halo 2, Nintendogs, etc. The shit in the top ten are there because they're sports titles, Star Wars titles and Pokemon.

On another note, I've never played any of those titles... I do, eventually, want LEGO Star Wars.

[Vegan]

I think most of us know that the list makes sense, but are expressing our disappointment in a just-slightly extreme way.

[ObiWanShinobi]

There are no "M"-rated games to be seen in the top 10! C'mon parents, who's going to train the killers of tomorrow? Or are we actually to the point where parents are actually reading the ratings? Maybe the Hot Coffee thing woke some people up.

I disagree. I don't think games cause violence or "train killers" or that teen rated games cause less aggression than mature rated games. I hope parents would completely disregard your false notion and instead think of their children's purity.

People who believe in such ignorance are forever doomed.

[camoor]

I love these lists, because all the message board people always shit their pants when they realize that the casual gamer still rules the sales charts.

:lol: QFT

One of my buddies bought Madden, Halo 2, and Starwars Battlefront 2 this year. Loves football, loves star wars (and they advertised the hell out of it) and Halo 2 is a pretty sweet game. However I don't know why he has an Xbox AND PS2, I mean if you're only going to play 3 mainstream cookie-cutter games a year, shouldn't one console be enough?

[Ma12kez]

I guess the list is right, I own 4 out of the 10 that are listed.

[Vegan]

:lol: QFT

One of my buddies bought Madden, Halo 2, and Starwars Battlefront 2 this year. Loves football, loves star wars (and they advertised the hell out of it) and Halo 2 is a pretty sweet game. However I don't know why he has an Xbox AND PS2, I mean if you're only going to play 3 mainstream cookie-cutter games a year, shouldn't one console be enough?

Hell I'd question buying even one console with those kinds of numbers.

[munch]

i own 0 off of that list (although i do want Battlefront II).

[BustaUppa]

Wow, didn't even realize that Halo 2 wasn't on there. I thought that broke some kind of sales record when it came out. Or was that just some PR spin on microsoft's part? I'm inclined to agree with the notion that the M rating does in fact reduce sales, because I really don't see any other reason as to why Halo and GTA wouldn't be on there.

[greendj27]

Wow, didn't even realize that Halo 2 wasn't on there. I thought that broke some kind of sales record when it came out. Or was that just some PR spin on microsoft's part? I'm inclined to agree with the notion that the M rating does in fact reduce sales, because I really don't see any other reason as to why Halo and GTA wouldn't be on there.

Halo came out in Nov, so I'm guessing the majority of their sales were in Nov and Dec. Probably quite a few were sold for the Christmas season at the end of 2004.

[shipwreck]

I disagree. I don't think games cause violence or "train killers" or that teen rated games cause less aggression than mature rated games. I hope parents would completely disregard your false notion and instead think of their children's purity.

People who believe in such ignorance are forever doomed.

Oh, you thought I was serious... and doomed.

[top-ramon]

i have 2 of them, and have played 6 of them