Best-selling games of 2013 revealed

Features

January 20, 2014

Market research and analysis group NPD has revealed the best-selling games of 2013 at the US physical retail market, with GTA V taking the top spot.

December 2013 US video game retail software sales were down 17% on December 2012, which the NPD attributes to the poor performance of November launches. Thanks to the December 2012 hit Far Cry 3, December 2013 launches were down 85%.

As you can imagine, December is a busy month for spending, and NPD pegs the total US consumer spend on gaming related products and services for December 2013 at just under US$2.4 billion (±R26 billion).

While it might seem far removed from our South African context, the US market is a pillar of the gaming industry and analysis speaks to the overall health of our favourite pastime.

In comparison, the SA gaming market spent R1.3 billion on games, gaming accessories, PCs, and hardware in the entirety 2011, with an estimation of spend exceeding R1.7-billion by 2016.

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Best selling games of 2013

“Grand Theft Auto V ranked as the top game in 2013 (based on units sold), and after four months of sales is within striking distance of surpassing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as the highest selling game within the Grand Theft Auto franchise,” said NPD analyst Liam Callahan.

“With the success of Grand Theft Auto V, the launch of Bioshock Infinite, as well as the continued popularity of the NBA 2K franchise, Take 2 Interactive was the top video game software publisher for 2013,” said Callahan.

While Call of Duty has been dethroned as the best-selling game of the year, the latest outing of Ghosts still did very well at retail. “For the fifth year in a row, the standard 360 version of Call of Duty was the top-selling SKU for December,” said Callahan.

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These sales figures represent new physical retail sales of hardware, software and accessories, which account for roughly 50 percent of the total consumer spend on games, NPD explained.

NPD Group’s US Games Industry Sales (New Physical Sales Channel*) – December 2013 / Annual 2013

Dec. 2013: 5-week month; Reporting Period 12/1/13 through 1/4/14
Dollar Sales	Dec’12	Dec’13	CHG	Annual 2012	Annual 2013	CHG

Total Video Game Sales (New Physical Channel)	$3.21B	$3.28B	2%	$13.27B	$12.97B	-2%
Video Games Hardware	$1.07B	$1.37B	28%	$4.04B	$4.26B	5%
Video Games Software (Console+Portable – New Physical Sales only)	$1.54B	$1.28B	-17%	$6.71B	$6.12B	9%
Video Games Accessories	$605M	$631M	4%	$2.51B	$2.60B	3%

Total Software Sales – (Console+Portable+PC – New Physical Sales Only)	$1.58B	$1.31B	-17%	$7.09B	$6.34B	-11%

December 2013 Top 10 Games (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms incl. PC)	Rank	Publisher
Call Of Duty: Ghosts (360, PS3, XBO, PS4, NWU, PC)**	1	Activision Blizzard (Corp)
Battlefield 4 (360, XBO, PS4, PS3, PC)	2	Electronic Arts
Just Dance 2014 (WII, 360, NWU, XBO, PS3, PS4)**	3	Ubisoft
Madden NFL 25 (360, XBO, PS3, PS4)	4	Electronic Arts
NBA 2K14 (360, PS3, PS4, XBO, PC)**	5	Take 2 Interactive (Corp)
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (360, PS3, PS4, XBO, NWU, PC)**	6	Ubisoft
Grand Theft Auto V (360, PS3)**	7	Take 2 Interactive (Corp)
Lego Marvel Super Heroes (360, PS3, 3DS, XBO, PS4, NWU, PSV, PC)	8	Warner Bros. Interactive
FIFA 14 (360, PS4, XBO, PS3, PSV)	9	Electronic Arts
Skylanders SWAP Force (WII, 360, PS3, NWU, 3DS, XBO, PS4)**	10	Activision Blizzard (Corp)

Annual 2013 Top 10 Games (New Physical Retail only; across all platforms incl. PC)	Rank	Publisher
Grand Theft Auto V (360, PS3)**	1	Take 2 Interactive (Corp)
Call Of Duty: Ghosts (360, PS3, XBO, PS4, PC, NWU)**	2	Activision Blizzard (Corp)
Madden NFL 25 (360, PS3, PS4, XBO)	3	Electronic Arts
Battlefield 4 (360, PS3, XBO, PS4, PC)	4	Electronic Arts
Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (360, PS3, PS4, XBO, NWU, PC)**	5	Ubisoft
NBA 2K14 (360, PS3, PS4, XBO, PC)**	6	Take 2 Interactive (Corp)
Call of Duty: Black Ops II (360, PS3, NWU, PC)**	7	Activision Blizzard (Corp)
Just Dance 2014 (WII, 360, NWU, XBO, PS3, PS4)**	8	Ubisoft
Minecraft (360)	9	Microsoft (Corp)
Disney Infinity (360, WII, PS3, NWU, 3DS)	10	Disney Interactive Studios

**(includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware).
*NPD’s monthly point-of-sale data reports on U.S. Games Industry sales occurring from new physical purchases at retail which is the largest channel for games sales, but does not represent 100% of industry sales; it does not account for consumer purchases made via digital distribution, used game sales, subscriptions, mobiles, rentals, or social network games. NPD’s Games Market Dynamics: U.S. is issued quarterly and is NPD’s official estimate of the consumer spend on the industry and It does include estimates of the size of those other monetization methods.

US Hardware and Accessories sales – 2013

December 2013 consoles sales were up 50% on December 2012, driven by strong demand for PS4 and Xbox One, reports NPD. With its $499.99 price point, the Xbox One led annual hardware sales on a dollars basis.

3DS topped overall hardware sales for December 2013 and for 2013 as a whole.

Wii U sales were positive with December 2013 marking its highest month for unit sales month so far.

“Gamepads, Video Game Point and Subscription Cards, and Interactive Gaming Toys all experienced double-digit dollar growth over December 2012, fueling 4% accessory category growth. These were also the top 3 accessory types in 2013 based on revenue, helping to increase 2013 accessory sales by 3%,” said NPD analyst Liam Callahan. “December 2013 marked the best month ever for Video Game point and subscription cards, both in terms of units and dollars.”

“Despite competition from Disney Infinity, December 2013 was the best month ever for Skylanders Interactive Gaming Toy sales on a dollar basis. In 2013, Interactive Gaming Toys, as a whole, grew 70% over 2012,” said Callahan.