Just how well did PlayStation 4 exclusive Marvel’s Spider-Man sell? Staggeringly well, if we’re honest. While it was previously recognised by United States-based sales tracking firm NPD as the fastest selling superhero game ever, it’s since become the best-selling game in its category – period. That means it’s now overtaken the multiformat Batman: Arkham City as America's top-selling superhero title in just 10 months.
There are few surprises in the full top ten, but we’ve reproduced the list courtesy of industry analyst Mat Piscatella below:
It’ll be interesting to see whether the upcoming Marvel’s Avengers can crack this list; the Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics release should be a slam-dunk, but consumer feedback hasn’t been kind since the project debuted at E3 2019 earlier in the year.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 24
I bought the Special Edition of this game I was so excited for it but as much as I enjoyed the game I did feel disappointed by it too and once I was finished and had platinumed it I quickly sold it without even bothering with the season pass.
Batman Arkham Asylum will always be my favourite.
Batman Arkham City has been out for 8 years now on multiple platforms.
Marvel's Spider-Man by contrast has only been out since September. If that's not an example of both having the right developer and having a more heighten status for been exclusive then I don't know what is.
Although if I were Activision, I'd be questioning why "we never had sales like that" because common logic dictates that been on more platforms equals more sales. But personally it's more about being on the right platform that appeals to the right players.
Poor Batman. Spiderman stole your combat and yet still sold better.
Sony's dominance continues unabated.
Well the 'United States' does = 'The 'World' according to the 'internet' Nice one tho. Still not had time to play it yet due to loads still to play (which is a GOOD thing)
Pretty impressive, considering it's an exclusive. Sony has seriously upped their exclusives game this gen.
I've yet to play it, but it's pretty high up on my list of games to grab for the PS4 someday. Maybe next time it goes on sale for $20. Sony does a pretty good job of making their older exclusive content affordable for everyone.
I wonder if Sony just put in a call to Insomniac to have their B-Team keep cranking out new Spidey suits and DLC until Spider-Man 2 for PS5 is ready to keep the sales ticking over. It's mighty impressive that this game on just one system beat the sales of other games that have been out a lot longer and on multiple platforms...
Might be just the bargaining chip Sony needs if they offer to buy Insomniac.
@koaeinferno Other way around.... Batman stole from Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2 games.🙄🤦♂️
Great game, i could not put it down. I got it on sale... But would have been fine at full price ( was busy playing DQXI when it was released)
Go out of my way just to swing around the city - the mechanics are just perfect.
The best superhero games, exclusive for playstation. It’s amazing for exclusives to sells more than multi-platform games that available on all platform, congrats for insomniacs, sony, and marvel. I already platinum it, can’t wait for the sequel on ps5
@locoism25 Yup, some gamers are too young to remember past spider-man games.
@Agramonte Agreed. After Astrobot it was my second favourite game last year!
@themcnoisy I really want to play Astrobot and PSVR in general.
I have the original PS4 so waiting for PS5 to jump into VR.
@Wazeddie22 Its the best super hero game ever. I don't see how anyone can be disappointed. Its the SM game I been waiting for since I was disappointed with the SM game on the genesis. Its better than Arkham City, which was my favorite at the time.
@BridgeToClarity It sold more units.
@locoism25 Exactly and Batman took a lot from MGS.
@koaeinferno Spider-Man does not use free flow combat. Did you play both games? I beat them all. SM plays nothing like The Batman games. Shadow of Mordor/War uses Batman's combat.
Really enjoyed it even though it borrowed a lot from the Arkham games. Some parts of it even reminded me of Naughty Dog's games. For me, the best part was definitely the swinging mechanics.
Dash, period, period. 🤣
Not surprised at this; it's one game where the hype doesn't do the game justice. I was surprised to see Injustice 2 so low, though.
It's actually kinda surprising, but at the same time one is a game for all ages and the other is darker for more mature gamers. Also, Spider-Man is a character that almost everyone loves, and Batman hasn't that love from everyone.
Personally I prefer the Batman games. Much darker and better stories, and combat mechanics are still great. The characters, I loved them both. Both orphans, with cliché background, Spider-man with the humor and Batman with the darkness that comes with him. Frank Miller explored that better then anyone and after that, Batman became more than human in collans.
@GodGamer it has lots of resemblances. I think spider-man success is more a product of really good marketing then any other thing. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad game, but I was quite disappointed with it, giving the success it had. I think its over hyped. On the other hand, I think Batman suffers from exactly the opposite. In terms of games, I put Batman over spider-man, easy.
The Batman games are very good including origins. Punisher was cracking even some of the old Spider-Man games are worth a mention. Spider-Man is brilliant. I’m currently playing it... but it’s not head and shoulders above others like some make out. Arguably some of the older Spider-Man games were more groundbreaking for the time. That being said it’s still an exceptional game and timed to perfection with avengers and Spider-Man movies.
The license issues with Marvel Ultimate Alliance 1&2 held them back as they had limited availability and a few strange design choices. Been a couple of decent X Men games too
Also, They don't track the number of copies but the money. so, if you sell today a copie of Spider-man for 40€ and 3 copies of batman for 10€ each, according to them, Spider-man sold more.. So maybe this not that accurate.. I don't know..
given that Arkham City was released on 6 different systems and Spider-Man was only on PS4 that's an amazing accomplishment
@LowTech That means that people probably are more wiling to pay full price for Spiderman. What way you look at it Batman got whooped.
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