Top 200 Selling Games this generation (More sales data!)

Not totally sure if the other thread was a success outside of the PSP/DS debate, but it seemed like a few people were interested. So here's my second thread on video game sales...again, the data has been pretty much "borrowed" from GAF (from "sonycowboy" to be exact).

Here's some data about the top 200 games (no PC BTW) in the US:

Sales by platform

Code:

[b]Num Titles   Format                    LTD Sales   Percentage[/b]
        36   GBA Total                46,428,053       16.99%
        19   GCN Total                24,589,829        9.00%
         1   NDS Total                 1,286,854        0.47%
       119   PS2 Total               169,824,252       62.13%
         1   PSP Total                   716,961        0.26%
        24   XBX Total                30,495,665       11.16%
       200 Grand Total               273,341,614

By publisher

Code:

[b]Num Titles  Publisher                         LTD Sales   Percentage   > 2M Unit        >1M[/b]
       45   ELECTRONIC ARTS Total             61,566,401     22.52%           7          27
       31   NINTENDO OF AMERICA Total         46,432,820     16.99%          10          20
       19   SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY) Total   24,636,638      9.01%           1          10
       16   THQ Total                         15,012,005      5.49%           0           5
       14   TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE (CORP) Total   30,601,068     11.20%           3           9
       14   ACTIVISION Total                  17,418,748      6.37%           2           8
        9   NAMCO Total                       12,417,385      4.54%           1           7
        8   LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT Total      7,936,465      2.90%           0           3
        7   KONAMI OF AMERICA Total            8,465,594      3.10%           1           4
        6   MICROSOFT Total                   12,462,013      4.56%           2           5
        6   ATARI Total                        7,253,842      2.65%           0           4
        5   UBISOFT (CORP) Total               5,356,940      1.96%           0           3
        4   SQUARE ENIX INC (CORP) Total       7,188,108      2.63%           2           3
        4   VIVENDI UNIVERSAL Total            4,689,424      1.72%           0           3
        4   SEGA OF AMERICA Total              3,836,371      1.40%           0           2
        3   CAPCOM USA Total                   2,776,357      1.02%           0           1
        2   MIDWAY Total                       2,348,321      0.86%           0           1
        1   EIDOS INTERACTIVE Total            1,109,620      0.41%           0           1
        1   TECMO Total                          924,298      0.34%           0           0
        1   ACCLAIM ENTERTAINMENT Total          909,196      0.33%           0           0
      200   Grand Total                      273,341,614                     29         116

and finally, the actual list:

Code:

[b]Format    Title                         Publisher                       Release Date    LTD Sales[/b]
PS2       GRAND THEFT AUTO:VICE         ROCKSTAR GAMES (TAKE 2)         Oct-02           6,748,151
PS2       GRAND THEFT AUTO: SAN ANDREAS ROCKSTAR GAMES (TAKE 2)         Nov-04           5,799,717
PS2       GRAND THEFT AUTO 3            ROCKSTAR GAMES (TAKE 2)         Oct-01           5,612,536
XBX       HALO                          MICROSOFT                       Nov-01           4,225,260
PS2       GRAN TURISMO 3:A-SPEC         SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Jul-01           3,805,542
PS2       MADDEN NFL 2004               ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Aug-03           3,449,539
XBX       HALO 2                        MICROSOFT                       Nov-04           3,266,704
PS2       MADDEN NFL 2005               ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Aug-04           3,253,666
GCN       SUPER SMASH BRO MELEE         NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Dec-01           3,097,694
PS2       MADDEN NFL 06                 ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Aug-05           2,952,751
PS2       MADDEN NFL 2003               ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Aug-02           2,729,444
PS2       NEED SPEED: UNDERGRND         ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Nov-03           2,585,789
PS2       KINGDOM HEARTS                SQUARE ENIX INC (CORP)          Sep-02           2,533,054
GBA       SUPER MARIO ADVANCE 2         NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Feb-02           2,461,043
GBA       POKEMON RUBY                  NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Mar-03           2,457,071
PS2       MEDAL HONOR FRONTLINE         ELECTRONIC ARTS                 May-02           2,373,142
GCN       SUPER MARIO SUNSHINE          NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Aug-02           2,337,169
PS2       FINAL FANTASY X               SQUARE ENIX INC (CORP)          Dec-01           2,332,844
GBA       NAMCO MUSEUM                  NAMCO                           Jun-01           2,318,331
GBA       POKEMON SAPPHIRE              NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Mar-03           2,219,271
PS2       SPIDER-MAN: THE MOVIE         ACTIVISION                      Apr-02           2,139,450
PS2       TONY HAWKS PRO SKATR3         ACTIVISION                      Oct-01           2,109,764
GBA       MARIO KART: CIRCUIT           NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Aug-01           2,094,671
GCN       ZELDA: THE WIND WAKER         NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Mar-03           2,079,539
GBA       MARIO BROS 3: MARIO 4         NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Oct-03           2,070,569
GBA       SUPER MARIO ADVANCE           NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Jun-01           2,058,856
GCN       MARIO KART: DOUBLE            NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Nov-03           2,038,925
PS2       METAL GEAR SOLID 2            KONAMI OF AMERICA               Nov-01           2,013,437
PS2       MADDEN NFL 2002               ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Aug-01           2,001,045
PS2       NEED SPEED:UNDRGRND 2         ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Nov-04           1,912,875
GCN       LUIGI'S MANSION               NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Nov-01           1,836,046
PS2       TONY HAWK UNDERGROUND         ACTIVISION                      Oct-03           1,821,810
PS2       SOCOM II: NAVY SEALS          SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Nov-03           1,754,600
PS2       DRAGONBALL Z: BUDOKAI         ATARI                           Dec-02           1,744,231
PS2       NBA STREET                    ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Jun-01           1,723,163
PS2       JAK AND DAXTER:LEGACY         SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Dec-01           1,711,220
GBA       POKEMON EMERALD               NINTENDO OF AMERICA             May-05           1,710,954
PS2       ESPN NFL 2K5                  TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE (CORP)       Jul-04           1,704,975
PS2       ATV OFF ROAD FURY             SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Feb-01           1,695,800
GBA       FROGGER'S ADV: TEMPLE         KONAMI OF AMERICA               Nov-01           1,694,312
XBX       HALO 2 LIMITED ED             MICROSOFT                       Nov-04           1,683,821
PS2       ACE COMBAT 4                  NAMCO                           Oct-01           1,682,342
PS2       CRASH BANDICOOT:CORTX         VIVENDI UNIVERSAL               Oct-01           1,663,192
PS2       TONY HAWKS PRO SKATR4         ACTIVISION                      Oct-02           1,655,000
PS2       NBA LIVE 2005                 ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Sep-04           1,652,405
PS2       SIMPSONS: ROAD RAGE           ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Nov-01           1,649,705
GBA       POKEMON FIRERED W/ADP         NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Sep-04           1,637,676
PS2       MAX PAYNE                     ROCKSTAR GAMES (TAKE 2)         Dec-01           1,589,892
PS2       MIDNIGHT CLUB:STREET          ROCKSTAR GAMES (TAKE 2)         Oct-00           1,572,892
GBA       PAC-MAN COLLECTION            NAMCO                           Jul-01           1,572,846
PS2       LORD OF RINGS: TOWERS         ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Oct-02           1,562,067
PS2       MEDAL HONOR RISING            ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Nov-03           1,542,786
PS2       NAMCO MUSEUM 50TH ANNIV       NAMCO                           Dec-01           1,532,981
XBX       T. CLANCYS SPLINTER CELL      UBISOFT (CORP)                  Nov-03           1,526,960
PS2       BOND:AGENT UNDER FIRE         ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Nov-01           1,513,665
PS2       GRAN TURISMO 4                SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Feb-05           1,504,587
PS2       TRUE CRIME:STREETS LA         ACTIVISION                      Nov-03           1,503,570
PS2       FINAL FANTASY X-2             SQUARE ENIX INC (CORP)          Nov-03           1,484,450
PS2       ATV OFF ROAD FURY 2           SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Nov-02           1,484,421
GBA       POKEMON LEAFGRN W/ADP         NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Sep-04           1,433,466
PS2       MORTAL KOMBAT: DEADLY         MIDWAY                          Nov-02           1,433,431
PS2       SOCOM:SEALS W/HEADSET         SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Aug-02           1,423,179
PS2       ENTER THE MATRIX              ATARI                           May-03           1,410,231
GBA       ZELDA: LINK TO PAST           NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Dec-02           1,396,397
PS2       SPIDER-MAN:THE MOVIE2         ACTIVISION                      Jun-04           1,395,261
XBX       GRAND THEFT AUTO PACK         ROCKSTAR GAMES (TAKE 2)         Oct-03           1,387,269
PS2       TEKKEN TAG TOURNAMENT         NAMCO                           Oct-00           1,375,673
PS2       NEED SPEED: PURSUIT 2         ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Sep-02           1,373,733
PS2       NBA STREET VOL 2              ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Apr-03           1,362,307
PS2       STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT        LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT         Sep-04           1,352,517
XBX       FABLE                         MICROSOFT                       Sep-04           1,332,421
PS2       JAK II                        SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Oct-03           1,327,661
GCN       METROID PRIME                 NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Nov-02           1,320,816
GBA       YU-GI-OH! ETERNAL             KONAMI OF AMERICA               Oct-02           1,311,900
NDS       SUPER MARIO 64 DS             NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Nov-04           1,286,854
PS2       DRAGONBALL Z:BUDOKAI2         ATARI                           Dec-03           1,272,643
PS2       SIMPSONS: HIT & RUN           VIVENDI UNIVERSAL               Sep-03           1,262,302
XBX       SW: KNIGHTS REPUBLIC          LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT         Jul-03           1,255,591
PS2       NBA LIVE 2004                 ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Oct-03           1,245,767
PS2       TEKKEN 4                      NAMCO                           Sep-02           1,237,499
XBX       MADDEN NFL 2005               ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Aug-04           1,235,581
GCN       SONIC ADVENTURE 2             SEGA OF AMERICA                 Feb-02           1,222,809
XBX       MADDEN NFL 06                 ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Aug-05           1,222,757
GCN       ANIMAL CROSSING               NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Sep-02           1,221,277
XBX       PROJECT GOTHAM RACING         MICROSOFT                       Nov-01           1,220,479
GBA       DRAGONBALL Z: GOKU            ATARI                           May-02           1,217,157
XBX       ESPN NFL 2K5                  TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE (CORP)       Jul-04           1,212,313
GBA       DISNEY'S FINDING NEMO         THQ                             May-03           1,196,214
PS2       BOND 007: NIGHTFIRE           ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Nov-02           1,190,676
PS2       WWE: SHUT YOUR MOUTH          THQ                             Oct-02           1,171,698
PS2       LORD RING:RETURN KING         ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Nov-03           1,163,763
GBA       YOSHI'S ISLAND:MARIO3         NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Sep-02           1,152,199
PS2       RATCHET & CLANK               SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Nov-02           1,137,890
PS2       THE SIMS                      ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Jan-03           1,130,161
PS2       NCAA FOOTBALL 06              ELECTRONIC ARTS                 July-05          1,129,382
PS2       CALL OF DUTY: FINEST          ACTIVISION                      Nov-04           1,119,895
PS2       HITMAN 2: ASSASSIN            EIDOS INTERACTIVE               Sep-02           1,109,620
PS2       TONY HAWK UNDERGRND 2         ACTIVISION                      Oct-04           1,108,261
PS2       T. CLANCYS GHOST RECON        UBISOFT (CORP)                  Dec-02           1,106,862
PS2       RATCHET & CLANK:GOING         SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Nov-03           1,105,425
PS2       DEVIL MAY CRY                 CAPCOM USA                      Oct-01           1,099,315
PS2       NCAA FOOTBALL 2004            ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Jul-03           1,084,471
PS2       WWE: HERE COMES PAIN          THQ                             Oct-03           1,059,114
GCN       SONIC MEGA COLLECTION         SEGA OF AMERICA                 Nov-02           1,052,909
GBA       SONIC ADVANCE                 THQ                             Feb-02           1,051,733
PS2       NCAA FOOTBALL 2005            ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Jul-04           1,045,339
PS2       METAL GEAR3:SNAKE EAT         KONAMI OF AMERICA               Nov-04           1,039,825
GBA       SPYRO: SEASON OF ICE          VIVENDI UNIVERSAL               Oct-01           1,033,974
PS2       PAC-MAN WORLD 2               NAMCO                           Feb-02           1,033,125
PS2       WWE SMACKDOWN VS RAW          THQ                             Nov-04           1,022,605
GCN       POKEMON COLOSSEUM             NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Mar-04           1,019,586
PS2       STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT II     LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT         Nov-05           1,019,049
PS2       ESPN NBA 2K5                  TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE (CORP)       Sep-04           1,015,939
PS2       NBA LIVE 2003                 ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Oct-02           1,007,773
XBX       T. CLANCYS GHOST RECON        UBISOFT (CORP)                  Nov-02           1,005,323
XBX       NEED SPEED: UNDERGROUND 2     ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Nov-04           1,003,747
GBA       MARIO & LUIGI SAGA            NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Nov-03             999,741
GBA       THE INCREDIBLES               THQ                             Nov-04             992,855
PS2       MIDNIGHT CLUB II              ROCKSTAR GAMES (TAKE 2)         Apr-03             990,700
PS2       THE GETAWAY                   SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Jan-03             986,454
GCN       MARIO PARTY 4                 NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Oct-02             980,632
GBA       KIRBY: NIGHTMARE              NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Dec-02             972,652
PS2       MVP BASEBALL 2005             ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Feb-05             972,608
PS2       TIGER WOODS PGA 2004          ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Sep-03             968,335
GBA       HARRY POTTER: CHAMBER         ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Nov-02             965,175
GBA       DONKEY KONG COUNTRY           NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Jun-03             962,728
PS2       DISNEY'S FINDING NEMO         THQ                             May-03             960,274
PS2       TWISTED METAL BLACK           SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Jun-01             957,689
PS2       NCAA FOOTBALL 2003            ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Jul-02             957,307
PS2       JAK 3                         SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Nov-04             949,611
PS2       WWE SMACKDOWN: BRING          THQ                             Nov-01             949,546
PS2       YU-GI-OH! DUELISTS            KONAMI OF AMERICA               Feb-03             944,731
GBA       METROID FUSION                NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Nov-02             942,268
PS2       MADDEN NFL 2001               ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Oct-00             938,322
PS2       NFL STREET                    ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Jan-04             932,265
PS2       SW EPISODE III: SITH          LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT         May-05             930,998
XBX       DEAD OR ALIVE 3               TECMO                           Nov-01             924,298
PS2       T. CLANCYS SPLINTER CELL      UBISOFT (CORP)                  Apr-03             922,643
GBA       TETRIS WORLDS                 THQ                             Sep-01             920,722
PS2       SCOOBY-DOO:100 FRIGHT         THQ                             May-02             916,974
PS2       SPY HUNTER                    MIDWAY                          Sep-01             914,890
PS2       CRAZY TAXI                    ACCLAIM ENTERTAINMENT           May-01             909,196
XBX       STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT        LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT         Sep-04             899,291
PS2       RATCHET & CLANK: UP           SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Nov-04             895,242
GCN       SW: ROGUE SQUADRON II         LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT         Nov-01             892,182
PS2       RESIDENT EVIL CODE: X         CAPCOM USA                      Aug-01             889,699
PS2       SPONGEBOB: BATTLE             THQ                             Oct-03             882,873
PS2       SOCOM W/O HEADSET             SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Apr-03             875,630
PS2       MVP BASEBALL 2004             ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Mar-04             872,758
XBX       NEED SPEED: UNDERGRND         ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Nov-03             865,710
GCN       SOUL CALIBUR II               NAMCO                           Aug-03             854,482
PS2       FIGHT NIGHT 2004              ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Mar-04             853,461
PS2       NFL 2K3                       SEGA OF AMERICA                 Aug-02             843,955
GBA       DISNEY PRINCESS               THQ                             Mar-03             839,209
GBA       KINGDOM HEARTS: CHAIN         SQUARE ENIX INC (CORP)          Dec-02             837,760
PS2       DRAGONBALL Z:BUDOKAI3         ATARI                           Nov-04             835,627
GCN       MARIO PARTY 5                 NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Nov-03             835,385
PS2       TIGER WOODS PGA 2005          ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Sep-04             830,571
PS2       NBA LIVE 06                   ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Sep-05             825,808
GCN       STAR FOX ADVENTURES           NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Sep-02             824,461
PS2       BURNOUT 3: TAKEDOWN           ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Sep-04             817,351
XBX       SPIDER-MAN: THE MOVIE         ACTIVISION                      Apr-02             816,225
PS2       TETRIS WORLDS                 THQ                             Mar-02             814,979
PS2       THE SIMS: BUSTIN' OUT         ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Dec-03             812,751
PS2       SOUL CALIBUR II               NAMCO                           Aug-03             810,106
XBX       MADDEN NFL 2004               ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Aug-03             808,601
PS2       SHREK 2                       ACTIVISION                      May-04             808,016
PS2       LEGO STAR WARS                LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT         Mar-05             807,038
PS2       HOT SHOTS GOLF 3              SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Mar-02             796,404
XBX       T. CLANCYS RAINBOW SIX 3      UBISOFT (CORP)                  Oct-04             795,152
XBX       MEDAL HONOR FRONTLINE         ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Nov-02             794,880
PS2       ONIMUSHA WARLORDS             CAPCOM USA                      Mar-01             787,343
GCN       MARIO GOLF: TOADSTOOL         NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Jul-03             781,103
XBX       STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT II     LUCASARTS ENTERTAINMENT         Nov-04             779,799
PS2       TEST DRIVE                    ATARI                           May-02             773,953
PS2       SLY COOPER & THIEVIUS         SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Sep-02             773,176
GBA       THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE           THQ                             Oct-04             761,995
XBX       MAX PAYNE                     ROCKSTAR GAMES (TAKE 2)         Dec-01             759,989
PS2       SSX 3                         ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Oct-03             759,086
PS2       CONFLICT:DESERT STORM         GOTHAM GAMES (TAKE 2)           Sep-02             756,390
PS2       DEF JAM VENDETTA              ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Mar-03             752,742
GBA       YU-GI-OH! SACRED CARD         KONAMI OF AMERICA               Nov-03             745,957
GBA       GOLDEN SUN                    NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Nov-01             743,361
GCN       MARIO PARTY 6 W/MIC           NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Nov-02             742,210
PS2       NBA LIVE 2002                 ELECTRONIC ARTS                 Oct-01             741,171
GBA       SONIC ADVANCE 2               THQ                             Mar-03             740,472
PS2       GOD OF WAR                    SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Mar-05             740,429
XBX       TRUE CRIME:STREETS LA         ACTIVISION                      Nov-03             740,166
GCN       SPIDER-MAN: THE MOVIE         ACTIVISION                      Apr-02             735,906
GBA       SPIDER-MAN: THE MOVIE         ACTIVISION                      Apr-02             735,620
PS2       MIDNIGHT CLUB 3: DUB          TAKE 2 INTERACTIVE (CORP)       Apr-05             733,344
XBX       MECH ASSAULT                  MICROSOFT                       Nov-02             733,328
GBA       SPONGEBOB: DUTCHMAN           THQ                             Sep-02             730,742
GBA       CRASH BANDICOOT: HUGE         VIVENDI UNIVERSAL               Feb-02             729,956
PS2       X-MEN: LEGENDS                ACTIVISION                      Sep-04             729,804
GBA       WARIO LAND 4                  NINTENDO OF AMERICA             Nov-01             718,200
PSP       GTA: LIBERTY CITY STORIES     ROCKSTAR GAMES (TAKE 2)         Oct-05             716,961
GCN       SUPER MONKEY BALL 2           SEGA OF AMERICA                 Aug-02             716,698
PS2       DDRMAX 2                      KONAMI OF AMERICA               Sep-03             715,432
PS2       EYE TOY                       SONY COMPUTER ENT. (SONY)       Nov-03             711,678

Never actually realized that Kingdom Hearts outsold FFX in the US, unless I'm missing a special edition of FFX or something in that chart. That's quite an accomplishment. Wonder how KH3 will sell with some Pixar characters...TOY STORY GRAPHICS ON THE PS3!!!!

Oh, and on a sad note...the 50 Cent game just surpassed 1 million units sold. Tis a sad time in the video game industry.

 

Someone at GAF added up all the PS2 Madden sales and came up with more than 15M copies sold. That doesn't even include any sales on the other platforms.

Are you sure? Maybe so, but I believe the PS2 software sales are pretty close to the PS1 software sales total, and that's in like half the time, not to mention fewer titles. Throw in a couple more years (with KH2, FFXII, new GTA, new EA sports games, and more just in 2006 IIRC), and PS2 should have much more software sales, especially once it gets down to the $99 price.

Maybe the XBX and GC failed to pick up the slack...not sure...it still seems like they had some great sellers as well though.

 

This is just out of current-gen games. Anything prior to the PS2 (well, technically the DC) isn't on the list.

 

Wait, you're not comparing these US numbers to worldwide numbers are you? Just curious because the Wiki article contains worldwide numbers for those games, not just US ones. I think each of the GTA games are around 10-15M worldwide (maybe closer to 15-20M). I'm not sure exactly what the Halo sales are, but I'd guess they'd be at least a few million away from 10M, if they weren't 10+M (same might be said about GT3, which was probably huge in Europe). Heck, as that list showed, SSB sold like 5.5 million worldwide, something I would guess that SSB:Melee might have surpassed since it had more than 3M alone here in the US (and with a smaller userbase than the N64). I could probably go on and on about several games, possibly even games that are huge in the rest of the world but not here (Winning Eleven?). I'd be interested in seeing how FFXII and Zelda sell since they might also approach those types of numbers.

That said, why would some developers/publishers really want it to be like the the earlier generations, especially if more software is being bought today? Sony actually gave out their software numbers today, and they now have sold more than a billion games for the PS2, which is about 50M more than the PS1 (again, half the time, fewer titles). In fact, the GC software numbers are pretty close to the N64 totals (within 30-40M I believe, with a little bit of life left in the GC...basically Zelda), despite a smaller userbase. The GC tie ratio is pretty good to say the least...Nintedo fans are crazy . If it were the case that the highest selling games weren't selling as much as the previous generations, then obviously the average game must be selling a lot more than they did in previous generations, which I'm sure is good for the average publisher.

Just going off the Wiki article on Enter the Matrix, it looks like it sold at least 2.5 million. Not sure if those are worldwide or not, but ~1.5M has been sold in the US just from the PS2, so I would think maybe 3+M would be accurate by now? Wonder if Europe is into the Matrix? Not sure how accurate the $30+M figure is either; even if it was, I think we can find out that higher budgets!= higher quality, which probably affected the sales of the game. To be honest, I'm not even sure if the budgets will really "skyrocket" that much. Reminds me of an interview with one of the guys at Epic (Marc Rein maybe?) that was talking about team sizes and development costs. He was mentioning how EA's managment kind of sucks, and that's why they have these 150-200 member teams (or maybe even more) with these high budgets; Epic, on the other hand, has much smaller teams and, thus, a much lower budget, thanks to their management (EX:no confusion due to large number of people).

I'm sure budgets will increase, but with cross-platform development (EX:developing for PS3, but also with PSP/DS in mind), higher prices, microtransactions, better middleware (XNA, UE3.0, Sony actually helping developers, etc.) and a larger total userbase (maybe dipping into China/India by 2009 or so), I think any extra expenses won't be a problem...unless of course every team spends more than $30 million on a game that sucks like Enter the Matrix.

 

I was wondering why you seemed to think those numbers were a bit low.

My fault for not clearly showing that though (same thing about the lack of PC numbers too I guess).

According to the SCEI, the PS1 still has some life (last HW numbers updated at end of 2004):
http://www.scei.co.jp/corporate/data/bizdataps_e.html

So yeah, in ~10 years, the PS1 reached the 100M mark, and the software numbers were around 961M. In 5-6 years, the PS2 has 100+M (reached late last year, probably surpass the PS1 early this year), and the SW numbers are around 1002M. To me, that's "half the time," although I admit that we won't be seeing something like 200M PS2s in 5 years. The PS2 still has several prices to sell at too, which is also pretty impressive (having this type of success for a console that costs $150+).

 

Rather than making a new sales thread, I'm giving this one a bump since this is kind of related.

Here's a breakdown for the top 30 game franchises this generation:

Like the earlier numbers, these are just US numbers, not worldwide.

"" at Zelda and FF numbers, especially when compared to the "Spongebob" franchise.