NPD: Activision Has 5 of the 10 Highest Grossing Games of All Time

by Alex Co, posted on 25 March 2011 / 3,793 Views

If you’re not particularly fond of Bobby Kotick and/or Activision, this is going to be some hard news to swallow.

CNBC reports that Activision is responsible for five of the 10 highest grossing games of all time.

Which game is numero-uno? Nope, it’s not any of the Call of Duty games. It’s none other than Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock.

According to new data from NPD, Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock has brought in more money in new U.S. retail sales than any game in recent history.

NPD reports that the game brought in a staggering $830.9 million in retail sales for mega-publisher, Activision. This includes bundles that included guitar controllers. However, this isn’t even counting the additional revenue the game received from DLC.

What about Call of Duty, you ask? The franchise has 3 games in the list. The most recent CoD game – Black Ops is expected to overtake Guitar Hero 3 this year. As of the end of February, it was just $43.5 million behind Guitar Hero 3 and Black Ops remains the industry’s best selling title.

Also keep in mind that Black Ops already is the top new retail seller in the US with over 13 million units sold. Retail revenue lists the game with $787.4 million in earnings. Not bad for an annual franchise, no?

What about the other games on the list? Those not published by Activision? Four of the other spots are taken by Nintendo with Wii Fit being the highest of the bunch.

The full list is as follows:

1. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock* $830.9 million
2. Call of Duty: Black Ops $787.4 million
3. Wii Fit (w/ Balance Board) $736.6 million
4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 $713.6 million
5. Rock Band*$670.7 million
6. Wii Play (w/ Wii Remote)
7. Guitar Hero World Tour*
8. Wii Fit Plus*
9. Mario Kart Wii (w/ Wii Wheel)
10. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

* - Combines revenue from sales with and without bundled accessories, such as instrument controllers and the Wii Balance Board

The data gathered from NPD reflects gross sales since 1995. It is not adjusted for inflation, nor includes titles that were bundled with game hardware. Only standalone titles were considered.

Seeing this makes you wonder just how long Activision can have the Guitar Hero franchise “dead,” no?


17 Comments

Rath
Rath (on 27 March 2011)

@Excaliburps. Just because the source has a blatantly wrong and misleading title doesn't mean that VGC needs to have one too.

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vic_viper
vic_viper (on 26 March 2011)

Only in America, thankfully. Oh and dude/bro contributer, asking a rhetorical quest in your news article is about as hack as MSNBC. @Funtime: The inevitable Pokemon MMORPG.

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excaliburps
excaliburps (on 26 March 2011)

If you look at the source article from CNBC, it's titled "Call of Duty, Guitar Hero Top All-Time Best Selling List" http://www.cnbc.com/id/42253109 Nonetheless, changed it to avoid confusion. :)

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tripleb2k
tripleb2k (on 26 March 2011)

please, don't ask questions in your news article.

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Funtime
Funtime (on 26 March 2011)

If we're counting addons bundled with games toward revenue then wouldn't it also be fair to count World of Warcraft subscription revenue which would put it in the billions? I'm fairly certain that no game ever has or probably ever will create more revenue than WoW.

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Gnizmo
Gnizmo (on 26 March 2011)

What a horribly written article. The thread title is a blatant lie, and the body of it demonstrates this. On top of that you fail to disclose the regions actually covered by NPD (which is more than USA). Further the final question poised ignores the lack of the more recent Guitar Hero games, and the fact that both of the games on the list introduced new necessary hardware to all of major platforms with the exception of GH3 and the 360.

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Rath
Rath (on 25 March 2011)

Exceptionally bad title for this article. Just really really misleading.

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Vertigo-X
Vertigo-X (on 25 March 2011)

@Pineapple: NPD only covers US. They took it for granted when making claims, sure, but pretty much every one knows this. That and nobody really cares.

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Pineapple
Pineapple (on 25 March 2011)

Not only is it not best selling, but highest revenue, it's also in USA only. The article doesn't even mention that.

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Nybbas
Nybbas (on 25 March 2011)

yeah and gran turismo 5 is garbagE!!!!111 What is sad here is that black ops is selling as much as it is... people are just sheep. I stopped after modern warfare 1.... We all whine all day about how JRPg's never do anything different and wahh wahh, yet activision releasing the same game 3 times over a few years, is 100% ok.

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julez_a1
julez_a1 (on 25 March 2011)

not only in america,Gran turismo 5 sold 4 millions in Europe...

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DonFerrari
DonFerrari (on 25 March 2011)

america... the land where bad games sell like hotcakes

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binary solo
binary solo (on 25 March 2011)

Oh right, we're talking revenue here, not number of units sold. 'Cause I was gonna say according to VGC the highest selling Acti game in Americas is Black Ops at number 20 on the all time chart. Kinda makes sense on the revenue side given all the current gen games ahead of Black Ops in number of sales are Nintendo titles all of which must have been bundled with Wii at various times in the last few years.

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LordTheNightKnight
LordTheNightKnight (on 25 March 2011)

First of all, this isn't best-selling, but highest revenue. That's a bad article title. Second of all, the GH series went downhill after those games.

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wfz
wfz (on 25 March 2011)

I'm with Ashtear. Those damn fitness and Music Games are driving the ever increasing war-culture of the USA!

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Mr.Ashtear
Mr.Ashtear (on 25 March 2011)

Doesnt surprises me, with the war-driven culture that the US has and loves to put inside of the weak-minded dudebros...[/rant]

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dsage01
dsage01 (on 25 March 2011)

OMG!!! San Andreas sold more than Guitar hero WW. He keeps yapping America all day long!

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