Here’s How Today’s Best-Selling Games Compare To 20 Years Ago

Today’s most popular and best-selling games often include expensive first-party exclusives, big multiplayer hits, and aging titles like GTA V that stick around years after launch. But that wasn’t the case 20 years ago, as seen in newly published sales data.

On Wednesday, Mat Piscatella, executive director and video game industry advisor at Circana, posted an image on Twitter showing the best-selling video games in July 2014 and July 2004. The data from 10 years ago is interesting, especially because a lot of games like Mario Kart 8, Minecraft, and GTA V which were big back then are still seen on best-seller lists in 2024.

July 2014 Top 20 Premium Software Titles

1. The Last of Us
2. FIFA 14
3. Watch Dogs
4. Mario Kart 8
5. Minecraft
6. Grand Theft Auto V
7. Call of Duty: Ghosts
8. Sniper Elite III
9. UFC
10. NBA 2K14
11. Battlefield 4
12. Wolfenstein: The New Order
13. Titanfall
14. The LEGO Movie Videogame
15. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
16. Pokemon X/Y
17. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
18. Injustice: Gods Among Us
19. 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil
20. MLB 14: The Show

But what we’re really here to look at is the July 2004 data, as it provides a 20-year time capsule of the video game industry and how different it was two decades ago. Here’s that list:

July 2004 Top 20 Premium Software Titles

1. NCAA Football 2005
2. Spider-Man 2
3. NFL 2K5
4. Driver 3
5. Tales of Symphonia
6. Shrek 2
7. MVP Baseball 2004
8. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
9. Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
10. Pokemon: Ruby/Sapphire
11. Halo: Combat Evolved
12. Need for Speed: Underground
13. Mega Man: Anniversary Collection
14. Red Dead Revolver
15. Yu-Gi-Oh! Reshef of Destruction
16. Fight Night 2004
17. Mega Man: Battle Network 4
18. The Sims
19. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004
20. Legend of Zelda: Four Swords

The first thing that stands out is the game at the top. It’s not a Call of Duty, a Grand Theft Auto, or even a big RPG or sci-fi action game. Nope. It’s EA Sports’ NCAA Football 2005. It’s been a long time since that has happened, but the recent college football game from EA—the first in over a decade—is exploding and might end up at the top of July 2024’s best-selling games list.

Meanwhile, Shrek 2—a licensed action-adventure game based on the animated movie—is in the top ten, beating out titles like Red Dead Revolver, Need for Speed: Underground, and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. I can’t remember the last time a movie tie-in game cracked the top charts. And hey, look at that! Mega-Man, Driver, and Yu-Gi-Oh! are in the top 20, t00. It was truly a different era back then, huh?

And comparing this old list to May 2024’s best-selling games, it’s clear that while a lot has changed, some things stay the same. Baseball games sell well and people still like Spider-Man sequels.

May 2024’s Best-Selling Games

1. Ghost of Tsushima
2. Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
3. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III (2023)
4. Helldivers II
5. MLB: The Show 24
6. Sea of Thieves
7. Minecraft
8. Elden Ring
9. Hogwarts Legacy
10. Stellar Blade
11. Fallout 4
12. EA Sports FC 24
13. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
14. Homeworld 3
15. Mario Kart 8
16. Madden NFL 24
17. Rise of the Ronin
18. F1 24
19. Mortal Kombat 1

1. Dragon’s Dogma II

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