Hogwarts Legacy has ended a 14-year streak that saw either a Call of Duty game or a title from Rockstar Games named the best-selling game of the year in the USA. The Harry Potter simulator has been named the best-selling game of 2023 in new data from Circana, beating Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. It's not known how many copies the game has sold in the USA, but worldwide sales were at 22 million at the end of last year.
The record Hogwarts Legacy has beaten dates back to 2009, when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (the PS3 version) was named the best-selling game of the year. Since then, either an entry in the FPS franchise or a Rockstar Games-developed title has sold best in the USA. GTA V topped the list in 2013 and then Red Dead Redemption 2 did the same in 2018. Other than the two open-worlders from Rockstar Games, the USA's best-selling game has been a Call of Duty title every year since 2009. Hogwarts Legacy broke the streak with PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC versions at launch in February 2023, and PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch ports later on in the year.
As for other titles, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 was the USA's fourth best-selling game of 2023, while Diablo 4 took sixth, and Mortal Kombat 1 claimed eighth. Looking purely at the month of December, PS5 was the best-selling platform in terms of both units sold and dollars generated. That is despite heavy discounts on the Xbox Series X|S systems, which couldn't shove the Nintendo Switch in second spot and instead came in third place.
Top 10 Best-Selling Games of 2023 in the USA
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
- Madden NFL 24
- Marvel's Spider-Man 2
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom*
- Diablo 4
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022)
- Mortal Kombat 1
- Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
- EA Sports FC 24
*Digital sales not included
[source twitter.com]
Comments 63
well deserved! this game was awesome and hit the perfect combination of good gameplay and nostalgia for millions. congrats to Avalanche
Removed - trolling/baiting
Great news! Good to see Spidey 2, Zelda TOTK & Jedi Survivor in there as well. Long live single player!
There are going to be some very unhappy gaming "journalists" out there right now.
Lol!
Something for most everyone in there! Crazy that TotK's digital sales aren't known because there's got to be a few million of those? Maybe not since the Switch has that feeble internal storage, among other factors, but still...
Must be time for the weekly "Hogwarts sold well" post
Well deserved! Although part of me is wondering whether MW3 sales are significantly down on previous years and that's what has given HL the chance to overtake it.
You love to see it.
I played it at release and finished it about a week later. Spectacular and fresh game. Well deserved.
@LifeGirl I would say there will be, especially since all the outrage backfired and probably led to an increase in sales.
@Kevw2006 I believe it was reported sales for CoD were down 25% year over year or something. So that's quite a fall (and deservedly so).
But sales for Legacy were around 22 million worldwide, while sales for Call of Duty last year were about 16 million according to some sources. That could mean that even without CoD's fall it could have been the biggest game of the year.
Just bought this on sale at Christmas. Really enjoying with my son it and I am not a Harry Potter fan.
@Kevw2006 It might be, or maybe it would have even performed better without the outrage. People will put their own spin on these numbers.
For an activist it's hard to measure success anyway. Whatever ideal you strive for, you would become easily depressed if you believe that your activism is wasted if it doesn't lead to success. Most acts of activism doesn't lead to success. But activists have to keep going, stand for what they feel is justice, so that maybe one day their message will catch on.
Which is why saying "trans right matter" bears repeating.
Awesome awesome game, esp on PC with tons of mods. It's GORGEOUS
Really happy Hogwarts did so well. Also shout to them actually somehow getting it to run in a decent state on Switch! Obviously not the best way to play it but it's still impressive.
Brilliant news..well deserved.
@Kevw2006 I think it is down, but Hogwarts Legacy is a monster.
It looks and plays great. I fell off it pretty hard got a bit boring but plan on going back to it at some point
@Kidfried I was more meaning due to all the increased free publicity and the game being reported on in areas where it wouldn't normally rather than people buying is as some sort of counter protest.
As someone who bought Gollum just to see if it really was THAT bad I know that sometimes a bit of negative press can still be a good thing.
@theSpectre Completely agree there, just looking at the rest of the games it has topped shows how well it has sold.
HL released in 02/2023 ?
CoD released in 11/2023 ?
Apples and oranges.
Cool.well deserved.word up son
Good for Avalanche! It is a great game and in my opinion did not deserve to be snubbed at the Game Awards. The soundtrack alone was phenomenal.
Congrats to Avalanche for putting out such a great game! I’m ready for Hogwarts Legacy 2!
@Jill_Sandwich I'm definitely not going to get involved in the surrounding discourse here... but I completely agree with you. From a simply objective standpoint, and considering the volume of sales(!), it seems crazy this game wasn't mentioned at TGA.
Whilst I don't think it would necessarily have been GOTY over Baldurs/Zelda (my top 2 picks) I think it should have been in the conversation.
It's great to see soo many single player games out there. But sales doesn't always equate to quality. I played Hogwarts and found it a bit poor if i'm honest, but there's soo many potter fans out there that it was never not going to do well in sales.
Richly deserved, especially compared to those two games.
Loved it when i got it, but never actually finished it got a bit bored of it by the end, still a good game but just fell off, dont know if i would go back to try and finish it tbh
“You couldn't IMAGINE how inconvenient travel was before I invented floo powder.”
HL was a solid 8/10, I finished the main story after about 30 hours or so. But I had no desire to finish anything else, and haven't picked it back up in nearly a year. Baldur's Gate 3 ended up hitting the way I expected HL to.
Really? I didn't realize Harry Potter was still that popular. I have mostly only heard about this game in the context of all the J.K Rowling controversy.
Long live single player games!
Also it clearly shows that the people trying to boycott the game were the typical loud minority.
I fell off the game pretty hard after maybe a dozen hours, I do feel like I should give it a second chance but I found the open world areas disappointing - especially compared to the fantastic spaces within Hogwarts itself.
Wait what why lol where the sudden increased interest in this game came from?
The wider cultural implications are glorious. Good work, gamers.
Well done for a game that was totally ignored by the game awards. Things start to look like the Ballon d'Or
1. Glad it sold well despite the silly "boycott"
2. Glad people aren't in the comments saying "because it sold well it deserves a big bunch of awards"
This is a good middle ground, because it is a fine game and clearly a very popular IP, and Avalanche have done a superb job handling the IP in a loving manner and their passion shows... buuuut I've kind of fell off playing the game twice already, even though I am definitely enjoying it in short bursts.
Such a gorgeous game! A dream come true for any Harry Potter fan. Deserves every bit its popularity. And with VRR, able to run at 60fps with rt fidelity mode 😍
Hopefully developer's/publisher's take this as a sign that a noisy minority will not affect sales negatively and keep woke crap out of games
Where is the warning which always accompanies this game XD Anyways it's an awesome game that has some drawbacks but it's miles better than the online junk that always sells the most ( call me a hater idc)
Well deserved, and goes to show what a licence can do when handled well. Hopefully the age of the lazy tie-in licensed game is drawing to a close once and for all.
This shows inclusion sells, considering the game had trans characters and let you play as trans.
Hopefully we begin to see Cod fall further and further from importance
@CJD87 You don't have to get into any debates outside the game to draw an obvious comparison.
Movie blockbusters rarely win Oscar (Academy Awards) awards, or even nominations. How many Marvel movies got Best Picture nominations, despite being at the top of the box office every year for a couple decades? 1: Black Panther. Several got nominated for special effects and makeup and editing and sound and costumes, but only one for Best Picture - despite routinely being the best-selling movies of the year.
That's because the academy awards are about merit, in the eyes of the academy members, and not about popularity. And that's what all award shows ought to try to be - rewarding merit, based in the eyes of the voters, whoever that may be.
We can argue that HL may have received an award if it wasn't for "the controversy" (just as you might argue Black Panther might not have been nominated if it dealt with standard superhero fare rather than having a primarily black cast), but whoever makes the awards also makes the criteria for them, and they can use whatever criteria they like.
On the other hand, most studios (whether movie or game studios) would be happier having the highest-grossing movie/game of the year, rather than having the most awarded movie/game of the year. Audiences vote with their dollars.
Can't deny, I was stunned when this was announced as single player. Glad it worked out. Another business benefit of SP is a long tail, this can sell for a decade long after live service servers would have been pulled. Potential too for a future remaster.
The game was in a tricky spot, the game succeeded because it was well developed and the developers had the passion that showcased. If it weren't for the author's distasteful opinions, it wouldn't have received negative attention. I don't blame those who boycotted the game and I doubt the developers are upset at them (otherwise there wouldn't have been as much inclusive features in the game). No one can deny it's a good game in the end.
@HammerKirby3 While the buzz has died down since the Harry Potter movies concluded a decade ago, Harry Potter is still recommended for kids to get into reading to this day so the fanbase is always revolving. They consistently released new versions of the books (new art covers and even an interactive pop-up book) prior to Rowling's opinions tainting a sizable fanbase from the series.. but only those online. Everyone else isn't aware unless they check the online news articles daily which isn't very many in real life. Plus with the upcoming HBO series in the works, the fanbase will still be plentiful.
I've seen the films once, never read a book in the series but the game was one of my favourite gaming experiences of 2023. Simply great fun on a well realized world. I don't agree with the authors views but I want going to punish a development team but not buying this excellent game. How refreshing to not have a ten year old GTA or annual shooter generate the most sales for once.
I call this the curse of MS on CoD
Wondering why SMB Wonder is not in the list 🤔
@CJD87 the award shows (and awards) are pretty meaningless anyway. Who even remembers what games won which awards in 2020, without looking it up? Nobody cares.
Given the choice between wining a pointless award and selling 22 million copies (so far), I'm sure they’d choose the sales every time.
Most fun I had with a game last year!
About ***** time ⏲️ good lord the fact that cod has been the 1st for so long is just sad 😔
I love HL, such a great game in so many respects. Not perfect by any stretch, but one of my favorite games of the year! Icing on the cake that it knocked COD off the throne. I bought and gave away several copies of the game, just because 😏 Good to be a gamer right now!
Awesome to see Hogwarts up there. Just a thrilling experience on the PS5.
What happened to NBA 2K? I'm guessing the casino simulator finally turned off some folks.
@ItsBritneyB_tch Ah I'd agree but disagree somewhat. TGA do provoke a nice bit of industry exposure, and ultimately are a fun means of speculation.... I'd concur that whatever "wins" is pretty immaterial, but equally I think nominations and such are a nice hat-tip to the devs that have worked long and hard on their output.
To your point, of course you'd rather have a record breaking smash-hit (vs an arbitrary award) but nonetheless it would have been nice to see the HL devs get some dues in a public forum such as TGA.
Removed - trolling/baiting
Good to hear. Tons of fun and fantastic world.
Also played Marvel's Spider-Man 2, Tears of the Kingdom and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor on that list. Great to see them all got good support. Single player games not going anywhere.
@HammerKirby3
I think that’s the vocal minority there for you. Most people I think either ignore the controversy or just realize you can respect the art and not the artist. I really wish people would be normal in the discourse surrounding Harry Potter because it’s not going away any time soon.
@Deemo37 yea ik. I guess I just dont know too many Hp fans.
@2here2there MW3 nothing to do with MS
The only reason I bought this game was because J .K Rowling spoke out about the trans hysteria damaging the youth. I have never played it and may never play it. I will support any activist that has the courage to speak up and protect children from mentally ill people.
@jedinite read my comment again
The boycott worked well then 🤣
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