It’s safe to say that Rockstar Games and parent company Take Two Interactive have had one hell of a 2018. Not only was Red Dead Redemption 2 (predictably) the best selling game of the year in the US, Grand Theft Auto V sits just outside the top ten at number 11.
This is the same GTA V that was released the better part of a decade ago, just so we’re clear. Seriously, who is still buying this game? Surely everyone who wants GTA V has it by now? If not, why not? I’m legitimately in awe of the game’s continued domination of the world.
These astounding rankings come from the NPD group, who recently published a report detailing the big sellers of 2018. It’ll come as no surprise to anyone that Red Dead Redemption 2 took the top spot of course, given it made an incredible $725 million in its opening weekend alone.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 also made the most of its impressive (and record breaking) opening weekend, claiming second place on the list. Meanwhile, Super Smash Bros Ultimate remarkably made it to fifth place, despite being released in December.
Here are the top 11 best selling games of 2018 in the US, according the NPD:
Red Dead Redemption 2
Call of Duty Black Ops 4
NBA 2K19
Madden NFL 19
Super Smash Bros Ultimate
Marvel’s Spider-Man
Far Cry 5
God of War
Monster Hunter World
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Grand Theft Auto V
It was a great year for Sony too, with PlayStation exclusives Marvel’s Spider-Man and God of War finding their way into the top ten. It’s also great to see a gem like Monster Hunter World find success, after the franchise lingered on the fringes of the mainstream for so long.
In terms of hardware sales, The Nintendo Switch had a massive holiday period and came out of 2018 as the best selling console of the year, despite the PS4 beating it to the top spot pretty much every month up until November.
I’d like to tell you that we won’t be seeing GTA V rock up in the top 20 games of 2019, but unless Rockstar drops a surprise GTA VI release on us this year, I fully expect the studio’s most recent crime spree simulator to remain in the charts.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.