Various entries of Activision’s popular shooting franchise Call of Duty have been somewhat dominating the game sales charts since 2009. According to a post shared by gaming industry research firm Circana on social media platform X, the latest entry from the developer (which is now owned by Microsoft), the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III has reportedly dropped to the second spot in 2023.
However, in all these years, there were only two other instances in which Call of Duty was knocked from the first postion. This happened in the years 2013 and 2018 in which Grand Theft Auto V and Red Dead Redemption 2 were released, respectively.
Highest selling games of 2023
The new list shows that Hogwarts Legacy is leading the best-selling charts in 2023. Despite generating a controversy, the game sold around 22 million copies last year. The game was criticised for both being associated with franchise creator JK Rowling (who used her celebrity position to support anti-trans views) and reportedly having parts which some saw as drawing from antisemitic caricatures.
Fans had been waiting for a high-quality AAA title which is set at the wizarding school for decades. Hogwarts Legacy also delivered on the promise of offering a true open-world Harry Potter experience.
The list puts The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom as the number five top seller of 2023. However, Nintendo keeps its eShop numbers under the covers, so the list only includes digital sales data up to September 2023.
This means the sales data of around four months is missing in the list. This data will be available only when the company releases quarterly revenue information at the end of the month.
However, Tears of the Kingdom may end up on top when this data is out, report Kotaku. The title sold 19.5 million copies till September 2023 and is just 2.5 million units away from beating Hogwarts Legacy. It's also important to note that the list doesn’t include four months of sales data including the holiday season.
Other top selling titles included Madden NFL 24 at number three and Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 at number four. It is also important to note that 2022’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was able to take the seventh spot. Meanwhile, Mario Kart 8 came in at number 19, but the digital data of this game was also missing since September.
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