Physical games sales rankings to date 2017 – week one, lifetime and ratios

We had a quick look through the sales data to date this year, and while we can’t reveal exact figures we can compile a couple of quick lists for you to see how the race is shaping up for the biggest selling new titles (sorry GTA) of 2017.

First up is a list of the ten biggest week one launches of 2017 to date. These are physical units, as that’s the data we have, so they don’t tell the whole story (unless you’re in physical retail of course), but the list shows rough levels of consumer enthusiasm for the launch.

1. FIFA 18
2. Call Of Duty: WWII
3. Destiny 2
4. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
5. Star Wars Battlefront II
6. Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy
7. Horizon Zero Dawn
8. Assassin’s Creed Origins
9. Mass Effect: Andromeda
10. Super Mario Odyssey

Closely bunched, but just outside the cut, were Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild, Gran Turismo: Sport and Middle-earth: Shadow Of War.

So how then did those launches pan out into lifetime sales. We can only track sales-to-date while they’re in the Top 40. Although titles falling out the bottom are usually on pretty small weekly numbers. For sales within the Top 40 we can rank the biggest newly-release titles of the year as so (up to 9th December, physical, units):

1. FIFA 18
2. Call Of Duty: WWII
3. Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy
4. Assassin’s Creed Origins
5. Destiny 2
6. Gran Turismo: Sport
7. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
8. Horizon Zero Dawn
9. Star Wars Battlefront II
10. The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

The biggest surprise here is how well Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy has performed over the months since its launch, putting in solid numbers week in and week out – so if you have a retro gaming IP on your books then get on with that remaster quick! Of course it’s cheaper to buy than most titles here but it’s still a great performance.

Horizon Zero Dawn is the only entirely fresh new IP in the Top 10 and a platform exclusive to boot, Sony must be very happy, and it’ll get another boost when the Complete Edition launches next week.

Ghost Recon Wildlands, though it dropped down the rankings to date, has made a notable comeback after years without a title being released. Also notable is Gran Turismo: Sport which saw a big nitro boost of sales as part of Black Friday PS4 and PS VR bundles.

Which brings us onto launch to lifetime sales multiples. Here’s a top 10 again but ranked based on how many more times copies were sold lifetime (in the Top 40 again) than in week one. Now this obviously favours games that came out earlier in the year, though not as much as you’d think.

1. Gran Turismo: Sport
2. Assassin’s Creed Origins
3. The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
4. Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy
5. Super Mario Odyssey
6. Call Of Duty: WWII
7. Horizon Zero Dawn
8. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
9. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands
10. Star Wars Battlefront II

Gran Turismo is high on this list as it sold so many copies bundled on Black Friday. Then we get games that have sold very well post-release, likely due to excellent word-of-mouth and reviews, such as Assassin’s Creed: Origins and the Switch titles. Crash Bandicoot, as we discussed above, has been a long-term seller, while the likes of Wildlands and Battlefront II have comparatively struggled to attract new buyers in the longer term. 

Anyhow, it’s something to chew over while we await the official reckoning for 2017, which will come early next year.

All data from GfK, rankings correct as of 9th of December.