Summary
Another year has passed, and to no surprise,Call of Dutyended 2024 as the United States' best-selling game, due in part to the release ofBlack Ops 6.WithBlack Ops 6 finishing as 2024’s single best-selling game, it ensures that Call of Duty as a franchise has had the top spot for 16 straight years.
The data was revealed on Bluesky by Mat Piscatella of Circana, a data and market research analysis firm. As part of a release of December’s data, Piscatella also shared the data for 2024 as a whole. Black Ops 6 took the top spot,besting EA Sports College Football 25, which had experienced massive success, enough to become the single best-selling sports video game in history.
The last time that Call of Duty as a franchise didn’t have the top spot was 16 years ago, in 2008. As gamers may recall, 2008 was dominated by the Wii,with Wii Play, Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit and Super Smash Bros. Brawl all taking the top four spots. Not even Grand Theft Auto IV (fifth) was able to top the Wii’s success.
From then on out, it’s been all Call of Duty all the time. It’s a pretty monumental feat, especially considering the games that have been released over those 16 years.Even in years when hardcore fans were down on the series overall (WW2 or Infinite Warfare), the franchise as a whole maintained its success.
Other Neat Tidbits
Breakout multiplayer shooter Helldivers 2finished as the No. 3 best-selling game in the U.S.,while Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero, the spiritual successor to the Budokai Tenkaichi games of old, managed to take the No. 4 spot. In particular, Sparking! Zero managed to beat outNBA 2K,MaddenandEA Sports FC, all year-over-year juggernauts.
Elden Ringrounded out the initial top 10, finishing exactly at No. 10.Grand Theft Auto Vcontinued its decade-plus run of dominance, finishing the year at No. 15 overall.Meanwhile, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which was exclusive to the PS5, ended at No. 17. Elsewhere,Spider-Man 2, which was released a year prior, managed to finish at No. 19 overall. Looking back at this list, it’s safe to say that 2024 did indeed have some bangers.
