The artful mincer
Member
So a few caveats first.
1. By biggest I mean in unit sales not revenue.
2. By breakout- sales have to have exponentially increased from the devs previous games. Games like Call of Duty, Fifa, Ragnarok and Tears of the Kingdom don't fit this.
3. This is in the Console and PC space not mobile.
4. Single player being the main selling point. A couple of these games have multiplayer aspects.
5. This generation means released on next gen consoles so includes cross gen games.
With that out the way let's go!
So 4 games fit within the above framework and they have outsold any multplayer/live service games released this generation. These games are
Elden Ring
Baldur's Gate 3
Hogwarts Legacy
Black Myth Wukong
So Elden Ring was the first major sales surprise of the generation. Yes Souls popularity had been snowballing for a while but very few saw Elden Ring being as big as it was. With a Peak steam concurrent player count of over 950,000 players and over 23 million units sold to date its one of the best selling games this generation. It would have likely outsold Call of duty if a Modern Warfare entry had not released in the same year.
Next Baldur's Gate 3. Who would have guessed a turn based rpg would be on here! It peaked at 875,000 concurrent players on Steam impressive but what's more impressive is it's dare I say GAAS like player retention. Every month since release it has peaked over 100,000 players on Steam. Well Done Larian.
Next perhaps the best selling game this generation Hogwarts Legacy. It peaked over 800,000 on Steam but it's peak on Consoles was likely far higher. It did what Elden Ring couldn't and outsold Call of Duty in America. With over 25 million units sold so far it may end up being the 2nd best selling game this generation after GTA5 unless....
Black Myth Wukong can overtake it! The newest entry in the list thanks to China it had the 2nd highest Steam peak ever with 2.4 million players and 3 million across all platforms. In less than week it sold over 10 million units it's unclear what it's legs will be like but it's off to a thunderous start!
So in the sake of fairness what has been GAAS/ multiplayer best attempts so far in comparison?! Well I think there's been 2 big hits in this category and honestly I'm not sure one of them fits the live service category. I'am less knowledgeable in this category so please tell if I've missed any other games and I will update. Anyway
Helldivers 2! It's been an incredible success for Arrowhead. It peaked at over 450,000 players on Steam and I think 700k if you include ps5. Great obviously but all of the above games beat this number on STEAM alone! Secondly Helldivers 2 hasn't really maintained it's player base that well. It's maintaining about 30,000 ish a day at the moment, still really solid but hardly the new Fortnite.
The second game is Palworld! I'am not sure this even belongs here but whatever let's give it to them! It had the 2nd highest peak on Steam of 2.1 million until Black Myth came along. It's probably the cheapest game to develop on this least so arguably the biggest success. It has retained its players the worst out of any game on this list although this hardly matters for the devs.
So Discuss GAF why is this!?
I have some thoughts of my own but this post is getting to long.
Please Factcheck me on any wrong or missing details and I will edit them in.
It also occurred to me while typing that Cyberpunk 2077 could have been included but never mind!
1. By biggest I mean in unit sales not revenue.
2. By breakout- sales have to have exponentially increased from the devs previous games. Games like Call of Duty, Fifa, Ragnarok and Tears of the Kingdom don't fit this.
3. This is in the Console and PC space not mobile.
4. Single player being the main selling point. A couple of these games have multiplayer aspects.
5. This generation means released on next gen consoles so includes cross gen games.
With that out the way let's go!
So 4 games fit within the above framework and they have outsold any multplayer/live service games released this generation. These games are
Elden Ring
Baldur's Gate 3
Hogwarts Legacy
Black Myth Wukong
So Elden Ring was the first major sales surprise of the generation. Yes Souls popularity had been snowballing for a while but very few saw Elden Ring being as big as it was. With a Peak steam concurrent player count of over 950,000 players and over 23 million units sold to date its one of the best selling games this generation. It would have likely outsold Call of duty if a Modern Warfare entry had not released in the same year.
Next Baldur's Gate 3. Who would have guessed a turn based rpg would be on here! It peaked at 875,000 concurrent players on Steam impressive but what's more impressive is it's dare I say GAAS like player retention. Every month since release it has peaked over 100,000 players on Steam. Well Done Larian.
Next perhaps the best selling game this generation Hogwarts Legacy. It peaked over 800,000 on Steam but it's peak on Consoles was likely far higher. It did what Elden Ring couldn't and outsold Call of Duty in America. With over 25 million units sold so far it may end up being the 2nd best selling game this generation after GTA5 unless....
Black Myth Wukong can overtake it! The newest entry in the list thanks to China it had the 2nd highest Steam peak ever with 2.4 million players and 3 million across all platforms. In less than week it sold over 10 million units it's unclear what it's legs will be like but it's off to a thunderous start!
So in the sake of fairness what has been GAAS/ multiplayer best attempts so far in comparison?! Well I think there's been 2 big hits in this category and honestly I'm not sure one of them fits the live service category. I'am less knowledgeable in this category so please tell if I've missed any other games and I will update. Anyway
Helldivers 2! It's been an incredible success for Arrowhead. It peaked at over 450,000 players on Steam and I think 700k if you include ps5. Great obviously but all of the above games beat this number on STEAM alone! Secondly Helldivers 2 hasn't really maintained it's player base that well. It's maintaining about 30,000 ish a day at the moment, still really solid but hardly the new Fortnite.
The second game is Palworld! I'am not sure this even belongs here but whatever let's give it to them! It had the 2nd highest peak on Steam of 2.1 million until Black Myth came along. It's probably the cheapest game to develop on this least so arguably the biggest success. It has retained its players the worst out of any game on this list although this hardly matters for the devs.
So Discuss GAF why is this!?
I have some thoughts of my own but this post is getting to long.
Please Factcheck me on any wrong or missing details and I will edit them in.
It also occurred to me while typing that Cyberpunk 2077 could have been included but never mind!
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