Call of Duty might be weakening, but Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare was the best selling game in the United States in 2016, just as the previously eight entries were, according to NDP Research. EA improved over last year with Battlefield 1, making 10% more money than Star Wars Battlefront, but it wasn't enough to take the lead.
In a good year for shooters and sport games, Final Fantasy XV made the top 10 too thanks to a strong start. Not only was it the best selling game on PS4 in December, but FFXV also broke FFXIII's launch record with 54% more revenue, including digital sales.
This were the 10 best selling games of 2016 in the USA:
1.- Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (Activision Blizzard)
2.- Battlefield 1 (EA)
3.- Tom Clancy's The Division (Ubisoft)
4.- NBA 2K17 (Take-Two)
5.- Madden NFL 17 (EA)
6.- Grand Theft Auto V (Take-Two)
7.- Overwatch (Activision Blizzard)
8.- Call of Duty: Black Ops III (Activision Blizzard)
9.- FIFA 17 (EA)
10.- Final Fantasy XV (Square Enix)
Pokémon Sun and Moon felt out of the list, even though it set record-breaking figures for the franchise, but since they're counted separately and eShop sales are not included, this sheds some light on the situation.
And, more important for the company, Nintendo 3DS kept growing on December in a year on year basis, and has been like this since summer. Nintendo sold 4% more portable consoles in 2016 than in 2015, but this is the only good news in a shrinking market. Overall, hardware market was down 24% in revenue because of old consoles and Wii U leaving the stores, and PS4 and Xbox One selling at a lower price on average.
What will be number one at the end of this year?