Top 10 in Sales - Global: 2012 Edition - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 02 April 2013 / 7,239 Views
Welcome to the ‘Top 10’ weekly feature. Each week we will be taking a look at the top 10 selling games in a particular genre, platform, most recent month, even sprinkling in the top 10 selling games from a past year. All sales specified will be worldwide, unless stated otherwise. If there is a particular top 10 you want to see leave a comment and it may be featured in a future top 10.
Over the next month we will be taking a look at the top 10 selling games in 2012 by region. This week we will be taking a look at the top 10 selling games globally in 2012. Last week we looked at the top 10 selling games in Japan in 2012 and the week before that the top 10 selling games in the Europe in 2012.
Looking at the top 10 bestselling games globally in 2012, all but one of the games, Kinect Adventures!, was released in 2012. For the titles released in 2012 one was released in June, one in July, one in September, one in October, and five in November.
The nine titles in 2012 sold a combined 54.89 million units or 92.3 percent of the total games sold in the top 10. The one game released in 2010 sold 4.57 million units or 7.7 percent of the total games sold in the top 10.
The top 10 bestselling games globally in 2012 sold a combined 59.46 million units. One title for one platform, Call of Duty: Black Ops II for the Xbox 360 sold more than 10 million units. The top five titles sold more than five million units and the entire top 10 sold more than three million units.
Four games are first party, two published by Nintendo and two by Microsoft. None were published by Sony. The two titles published by Nintendo sold a combined 11.07 million units or 18.6 percent of the total games sold in the top 10. The two titles published by Microsoft sold a combined 11.91 million units or 20.0 percent of the total games sold in the top 10.
The third party publishers include three Ubisoft titles, two Activision titles, and one Electronic Arts title. The three Ubisoft titles, Just Dance 4 (Wii) and Assassin’s Creed III for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, sold a combined 12.94 million units or 21.8 percent of the total games sold in the top 10. The two Activision titles, Call of Duty: Black Ops II for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, sold a combined 19.72 million units or 33.2 percent of the total games sold in the top 10. The one Electronic Arts title, FIFA 13 (PS3), sold 3.82 million units or 6.4 percent of the total games sold in the top 10.
The top 10 bestselling games globally in 2012 as a graph shows how games that are on multiple platforms are spread out pretty evenly. Both versions of Black Ops II sold pretty evenly, as well as Assassin’s Creed III.
Looking at the top 10 by platform four of the titles are for the Xbox 360, three are for the PlayStation 3, one is for the DS, one is for the 3DS, and one is for the Wii. The four Xbox 360 titles sold a combined 26.65 million units or 44.9 percent of the total games sold in the top 10. The three PlayStation 3 titles sold a combined 17.02 million units or 28.6 percent of the total games sold in the top 10.
The one DS titles sold 6.03 million units or 10.1 percent of the total games sold in the top 10. The one 3DS titles sold 5.04 million units or 8.5 percent of the total games sold in the top 10. The one Wii title sold 4.72 million units or 7.9 percent of the total games sold in the top 10.
Here are the rest of the sales outside top 10 globally in 2012: There were 52.46 million home console and handhelds sold for the entire year. This is a 24.4 percent drop year-on-year. There were also 477.01 million games sold in 2012. This is a 21.6 percent drop year-on-year.
The top 12 titles sold more than three million units and the top 27 titles sold more than two million units. The top 74 titles sold more than one million units and the top 182 titles sold more than 500,000 units.
Nintendo sold more games globally in 2012 than the other two first party publishers, Microsoft and Sony. Nintendo sold 60.62 million games across its four platforms, the Wii, Wii U, DS, and 3DS. Microsoft sold 26.65 million games for the Xbox 360. Sony sold 19.81 million games for the PlayStation 3, PSP, and PlayStation Vita.
Electronic Arts was the biggest third party publisher selling 60.94 million games. Activision sold 56.77 million, Ubisoft sold 43.67 million games and Take-Two sold 26.57 million games. Namco Bandai sold 17.37 million games, THQ sold 17.23 million games and Warner Bros. sold 16.61 million games.
The top 100 titles are below or click here to view the full chart.
| Pos | Game | Weeks | Yearly | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
7 | 10,862,800 | 10,862,800 | ||||
| 2 |
|
7 | 8,855,965 | 8,855,965 | ||||
| 3 |
|
8 | 7,344,242 | 7,344,242 | ||||
| 4 |
|
28 | 6,032,311 | 6,032,311 | ||||
| 5 |
|
14 | 5,598,082 | 5,598,082 | ||||
| 6 |
|
23 | 5,042,214 | 5,042,214 | ||||
| 7 |
|
13 | 4,721,969 | 4,721,969 | ||||
| 8 |
|
113 | 4,565,200 | 19,632,648 | ||||
| 9 |
|
9 | 4,379,420 | 4,379,420 | ||||
| 10 |
|
14 | 4,078,927 | 4,078,927 | ||||
| 11 |
|
9 | 3,878,519 | 3,878,519 | ||||
| 12 |
|
57 | 3,413,189 | 7,338,206 | ||||
| 13 |
|
61 | 3,308,601 | 7,915,067 | ||||
| 14 |
|
33 | 2,970,349 | 2,970,349 | ||||
| 15 |
|
43 | 2,620,352 | 2,620,352 | ||||
| 16 |
|
319 | 2,447,735 | 80,871,799 | ||||
| 17 |
|
65 | 2,422,312 | 9,721,612 | ||||
| 18 |
|
44 | 2,319,137 | 2,319,137 | ||||
| 19 |
|
18 | 2,313,172 | 2,313,172 | ||||
| 20 |
|
13 | 2,265,308 | 2,265,308 | ||||
| 21 |
|
60 | 2,232,955 | 12,553,360 | ||||
| 22 |
|
60 | 2,219,944 | 14,781,837 | ||||
| 23 |
|
15 | 2,187,111 | 2,187,111 | ||||
| 24 |
|
61 | 2,130,604 | 5,575,886 | ||||
| 25 |
|
247 | 2,079,046 | 33,282,352 | ||||
| 26 |
|
184 | 2,071,599 | 31,284,697 | ||||
| 27 |
|
8 | 2,066,259 | 2,066,259 | ||||
| 28 |
|
60 | 1,959,843 | 6,915,318 | ||||
| 29 |
|
64 | 1,943,378 | 3,793,109 | ||||
| 30 |
|
18 | 1,882,244 | 1,882,244 | ||||
| 31 |
|
13 | 1,868,791 | 1,868,791 | ||||
| 32 |
|
111 | 1,838,206 | 6,071,468 | ||||
| 33 |
|
163 | 1,833,754 | 26,507,911 | ||||
| 34 |
|
59 | 1,759,657 | 2,401,592 | ||||
| 35 |
|
11 | 1,733,433 | 1,733,433 | ||||
| 36 |
|
62 | 1,676,401 | 6,132,611 | ||||
| 37 |
|
113 | 1,598,026 | 5,455,789 | ||||
| 38 |
|
18 | 1,589,817 | 1,589,817 | ||||
| 39 |
|
110 | 1,551,006 | 8,598,318 | ||||
| 40 |
|
59 | 1,538,763 | 2,072,004 | ||||
| 41 |
|
5 | 1,531,156 | 1,531,156 | ||||
| 42 |
|
55 | 1,521,272 | 2,237,999 | ||||
| 43 |
|
60 | 1,463,485 | 4,400,030 | ||||
| 44 |
|
13 | 1,456,747 | 1,456,747 | ||||
| 45 |
|
13 | 1,451,307 | 1,451,307 | ||||
| 46 |
|
62 | 1,442,184 | 6,583,591 | ||||
| 47 |
|
9 | 1,416,446 | 1,416,446 | ||||
| 48 |
|
6 | 1,414,521 | 1,414,521 | ||||
| 49 |
|
66 | 1,404,731 | 6,268,120 | ||||
| 50 |
|
63 | 1,331,521 | 4,084,715 | ||||
| 51 |
|
6 | 1,309,124 | 1,309,124 | ||||
| 52 |
|
64 | 1,278,603 | 2,397,402 | ||||
| 53 |
|
15 | 1,269,340 | 1,269,340 | ||||
| 54 |
|
5 | 1,268,256 | 1,268,256 | ||||
| 55 |
|
6 | 1,244,981 | 1,244,981 | ||||
| 56 |
|
6 | 1,216,401 | 1,216,401 | ||||
| 57 |
|
39 | 1,211,502 | 1,211,502 | ||||
| 58 |
|
33 | 1,203,915 | 1,203,915 | ||||
| 59 |
|
14 | 1,189,882 | 1,189,882 | ||||
| 60 |
|
59 | 1,182,834 | 3,353,434 | ||||
| 61 |
|
32 | 1,181,162 | 1,181,162 | ||||
| 62 |
|
65 | 1,172,630 | 2,518,944 | ||||
| 63 |
|
33 | 1,167,994 | 1,167,994 | ||||
| 64 |
|
12 | 1,129,888 | 1,129,888 | ||||
| 65 |
|
7 | 1,105,266 | 1,105,266 | ||||
| 66 |
|
40 | 1,084,645 | 1,084,645 | ||||
| 67 |
|
346 | 1,056,581 | 28,966,905 | ||||
| 68 |
|
10 | 1,055,769 | 1,055,769 | ||||
| 69 |
|
63 | 1,040,580 | 3,546,956 | ||||
| 70 |
|
170 | 1,034,708 | 21,015,564 | ||||
| 71 |
|
43 | 1,016,013 | 1,016,013 | ||||
| 72 |
|
44 | 1,000,307 | 1,000,307 | ||||
| 73 |
|
41 | 999,724 | 999,724 | ||||
| 74 |
|
15 | 991,776 | 991,776 | ||||
| 75 |
|
41 | 979,260 | 979,260 | ||||
| 76 |
|
120 | 974,893 | 14,565,675 | ||||
| 77 |
|
59 | 968,306 | 3,784,265 | ||||
| 78 |
|
130 | 945,424 | 8,034,299 | ||||
| 79 |
|
31 | 928,830 | 928,830 | ||||
| 80 |
|
60 | 920,876 | 2,687,645 | ||||
| 81 |
|
25 | 906,837 | 906,837 | ||||
| 82 |
|
66 | 889,234 | 4,034,712 | ||||
| 83 |
|
59 | 881,045 | 3,862,879 | ||||
| 84 |
|
42 | 874,919 | 874,919 | ||||
| 85 |
|
97 | 873,429 | 2,838,785 | ||||
| 86 |
|
42 | 864,446 | 864,446 | ||||
| 87 |
|
32 | 861,795 | 861,795 | ||||
| 88 |
|
47 | 851,960 | 851,960 | ||||
| 89 |
|
65 | 845,716 | 1,968,991 | ||||
| 90 |
|
9 | 845,530 | 845,530 | ||||
| 91 |
|
28 | 844,841 | 844,841 | ||||
| 92 |
|
12 | 841,769 | 841,769 | ||||
| 93 |
|
43 | 840,066 | 840,066 | ||||
| 94 |
|
9 | 817,884 | 817,884 | ||||
| 95 |
|
137 | 812,993 | 5,256,298 | ||||
| 96 |
|
10 | 809,664 | 809,664 | ||||
| 97 |
|
9 | 804,963 | 804,963 | ||||
| 98 |
|
268 | 800,540 | 10,657,599 | ||||
| 99 |
|
7 | 800,170 | 800,170 | ||||
| 100 |
|
55 | 798,731 | 871,610 | ||||
Contact VGChartz at wdangelo@vgchartz.com
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Your table of the top 10 games in 2012 doesn't match the top 100 list underneath. FIFA '13 (PS3) is at #05 on the list underneath but at #10 on your table; FIFA '13 (360) is at #10 in the list but not on your table.
He didn't count kinect adventures because the list is only of games released in 2012.
pokemon would have sold better on 3ds imo. ds probably put alot of people off
got a copy for the 3ds of it, you know they released an app only for the 3ds which allowed you start off the game basically with a handful of legendary pokemon. I'm sure they're happy enough with their 4th spot for 2012 considering it's just a title sequel.
Your forgetting the big one: Diablo 3
Yeah. Diablo III sold 12 million copies in 2012. I know VGChartz has problems getting downloaded sales as part of final numbers, but if you can't accurately give a list of the real best selling games, it's kind of a pointless chart.
Yeah, the big turd of 2012.
Big Turd of 2012 lol. Yeah maybe quality wise, but this is SALES. How can you exclude possibly the number one sales title of 2012?
So is that Uncharted at #100 the only PS-Vita game on the whole list? Interesting to see such strong ever-green sales for those few quality Wii titles. Did the Wii really have more top sellers in 2012 than DS/3DS?
12 Wii games and 14 Ds/3ds games. Nintendo games surely has such looooong legs. They keep selling for a long time.
Vita still has a really small install base, I know it's newer but still there are what? 20 times more people with wii systems in their homes than vitas so going up against that might getting one on the board is fairly cool.
