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Call of Duty(s), GTA V, and Guitar Hero are among the highest-selling.
If you guessed GTA V and any of several Call of Duty’s would dominate the lists of top-selling third-party games of all time, you’d be right. But how do they all stack up to one another, across all platforms through over 20 years?
Well, Mat Piscatella of the NPD Group compiled the top 10 best-selling third-party published games on all Nintendo platforms combined since NPD began tracking this data back in 1995. Piscatella also provided IGN with data for the top 10 third-party games (through May 2019) on PlayStation and Xbox consoles, as well as across all platforms. Ranking of the best-selling games for each platform is based on total dollar sales.
And, as noted by NPD, physical tracking of game purchases began in 1995, while digital sales began to be tracked back in 2012. Not all publishers report all numbers, however.
The Top 10 Third-Party Games Across All Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox Platforms
The list of best-selling third-party games on all three platform families combined (based on total dollar sales, not units), in descending order, is:
That list includes only three non-Call of Duty entries, two music games (Guitar Hero III and Rock Band) released at the height of the genre’s popularity, and GTA V, which continues to appear on NPD’s monthly list of the best-selling games. That’s no surprise given Call of Duty and GTA V’s prominence on NPD charts throughout the years.
Piscatella also noted that GTA V “is the best-selling game [of] all-time in tracked dollar sales (across all titles, not just by 3rd parties). It is also the best-selling game of all time on both PlayStation and Xbox Consoles.”
The Top 10 Third-Party Games Across All Nintendo Platforms
Piscatella noted that all 10 titles on the third-party top-selling Nintendo list would not actually be in the top 10 for Nintendo consoles were Nintendo first-party games considered.
“Nintendo 1st party published titles occupy the first 12 positions on an all-time ranking chart. Guitar Hero World Tour, the best performing 3rd party title on Nintendo platforms to date, would rank at #13 overall on Nintendo platforms historically,” he said.
In terms of what would be the #1 game overall with first-party games including, according to NPD’s data, would be Wii Fit.
Piscatella also noted that, as you’ll see in the lists below, most of the software on the PlayStation and Xbox lists came from the current or last generation of hardware. Nintendo’s list of the best-selling third-party software is notably more dominated by Wii games.
The Top 10 Third-Party Games Across All PlayStation Platforms
As for where the first PlayStation exclusive title would fall in comparison to this list, Piscatella indicated that PlayStation’s top-selling games of all time lean heavily third-party. The first PlayStation first-party game to appear in an overall top-selling list would be Marvel’s Spider-Man, and it would rank 18th on that overall list.
“The common conception that the 1st party published exclusives are dominant on PlayStation platforms isn’t really proven out by the data. Yes, exclusive games are a meaningful part of the consumer purchase decision, and many PlayStation exclusive titles have been massive successes,” Piscatella said. ” But, ultimately, it is the 3rd party franchises that occupy the best-sellers chart lifetime, as Marvel’s Spider-Man, the best-selling exclusive ever on PlayStation platforms, would rank at #18 overall.”
The Top 10 Third-Party Games Across All Xbox Platforms
- GTA V
- Call of Duty: Black Ops
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
- Call of Duty: Ghosts
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
- Call of Duty: WWII
Xbox’s list, like PlayStation’s heavily features the Call of Duty franchise, with GTA V being the lone outlier on the list. An Xbox exclusive would crack an overall list of top-selling games on Xbox consoles, however, as Halo 3 would come in at #8 overall.
Many of these entries on NPD’s lists aren’t too shocking, especially given NPD’s prior release of the best-selling games for each year between 1995 and 2017. GTA V, several Call of Duty entries, Rock Band, and Guitar Hero III all earned the top spot in various years.
What do you think of the lists of best third-party selling games across all platforms, as well as the platform family-specific lists? Surprised by any of the entries? Let us know in the comments below!
Jonathon Dornbush is IGN’s Senior News Editor and host of Beyond! who loves video game stats like this and wishes there was a BoxOfficeMojo of games. Talk to him about Kingdom Hearts, Fast & Furious, and more on Twitter @jmdornbush.
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