FIFA 18 tops the 100 best-selling physical games – we dissect the list

The biggest selling games of last year have been revealed by GfK – and unsurprising it’s FIFA 18 that comes out on top once again. We did our own pre-emptive tally back in mid-December, which came to the same conclusion, though there has been some movement further down the Top 20 in the intervening weeks. But it’s FIFA that takes the crown – and what a crown it is, in what has been a highly competitive year.

Other big winners include Call of Duty, which had a great year, with the latest release hitting the kinds of sales figures we’d expect from the franchise – it actually ranked No.1 when looking at Xbox One alone. Grand Theft Auto remains a must-have title for those upgrading to the current generation of consoles. Crash Bandicoot was the surprise package of the year, underlining that there’s more to retro than Nintendo mini consoles. Ghost Recon: Wildlands earns a Top 10 place having re-established the franchise early in the year to great effect.

Assassin’s Creed: Origins could maybe have performed better given the franchise took a break last year, but No.4 is still a strong placing. There’s really no more to say about Battlefront II’s loot box problem – except that even the most intense criticism hasn’t done more to dent sales.

Both Gran Turismo: Sport and Forza Horizon 3 had massive sales boosts from being bundled with hardware – namely the PS VR and the Xbox One S. While the trio of Switch titles at 11, 12 and 14 makes it clear that the great Nintendo titles are selling in similar numbers – capped off by the amount of hardware in the market.

• 1 FIFA 18 – Electronic Arts
• 2 Call Of Duty: WWII – Activision Blizzard
• 3 Grand Theft Auto V – Rockstar/Take 2
• 4 Assassin’s Creed Origins – Ubisoft
• 5 Star Wars Battlefront II – Electronic Arts
• 6 Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy – Activision Blizzard
• 7 Destiny 2 – Activision Blizzard
• 8 Gran Turismo: Sport – Sony Computer Ent.
• 9 Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Wildlands – Ubisoft
• 10 Horizon Zero Dawn – Sony Computer Ent.
• 11 Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – Nintendo
• 12 Super Mario Odyssey – Nintendo
• 13 Forza Horizon 3 – Microsoft
• 14 The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild – Nintendo
• 15 Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare – Activision Blizzard
• 16 Lego Worlds – Warner Bros. Interactive
• 17 FIFA 17 – Electronic Arts
• 18 Resident Evil 7: Biohazard – Capcom
• 19 Fallout 4 – Bethesda Softworks
• 20 Forza Motorsport 7 – Microsoft

This chart is for physical sales only, so it only represents around half of the market and there are some pretty big variations in sales figures when comparing physical to digital sales. Hopefully, we won’t have to suffer this much longer, though, as digital sales data will apparently be available in the near future.

That makes this ranking only indicative of the actual popularity of the big franchises in the UK – rather than a definitive ranking. Also we can’t report the actual sales figures, meaning we can’t let you know how much of a drop off there is say from No.1 to No.10. These are unit sales too, not value, so they don’t represent the takings of the publishers on these titles – especially when you factor in heavily discounted titles for bundling with hardware.

Finally, of course, there’s the arbitrary line of the year’s end, which isn’t a good one given the continued sales of the biggest titles into January and beyond. The presence of both FIFA 17 and Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare in this year’s top 20 is testament to that.

All that said, it’s been a great year for games. There’s been great variety in titles, some excellent new and returning franchises, the critical concensus was excellent for 2017 and sales reflected all of that – with even the physical market actually being up very slightly year-on-year in terms of units and value – a stadout result given the drift to digital that is undoubtedly ongoing.

And here’s the rest of the list for the year:

• 21 Uncharted: The Lost Legacy – Sony Computer Ent.
• 22 WWE 2K18 – 2K/Take Two
• 23 Rocket League – 505 Games
• 24 Middle-earth: Shadow Of War – Warner Bros. Interactive
• 25 Mass Effect: Andromeda – Ea Games
• 26 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6: Siege – Ubisoft
• 27 Minecraft: Xbox Edition – Microsoft
• 28 Doom – Bethesda Softworks
• 29 Overwatch – Blizzard
• 30 For Honor – Ubisoft
• 31 Need For Speed Payback – Ea Games
• 32 Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus – Bethesda Softworks
• 33 Battlefield 1 – Ea Games
• 34 The Sims 4 – Ea Games
• 35 South Park: The Fractured But Whole – Ubisoft
• 36 Injustice 2 – Warner Bros. Interactive
• 37 Dishonored 2 – Bethesda Softworks
• 38 Minecraft: Playstation Edition – Sony Computer Ent.
• 39 1-2 Switch – Nintendo
• 40 Splatoon 2 – Nintendo
• 41 Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle – Ubisoft
• 42 Lego City Undercover – Warner Bros. Interactive
• 43 Prey – Bethesda Softworks
• 44 Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds – Microsoft
• 45 Playstation VR Worlds – Sony Computer Ent.
• 46 Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 – Warner Bros. Interactive
• 47 Pokemon Ultra Sun – Nintendo
• 48 NBA 2K18 – 2K/Take Two
• 49 F1 2017 – Codemasters
• 50 Overwatch: Game Of The Year Edition – Blizzard
• 51 Pokemon Ultra Moon – Nintendo
• 52 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Ed. – Bethesda Softworks
• 53 Sonic Forces – Sega
• 54 Watch Dogs 2 – Ubisoft
• 55 WWE 2k17 – 2K/Take Two
• 56 Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Warner Bros. Interactive
• 57 Just Dance 2018 – Ubisoft
• 58 Mario Kart 7 – Nintendo
• 59 Sniper Elite 4 – Sold Out Sales & Marketing
• 60 Mafia III – Take Two
• 61 Hitman: The Complete First Season – Square Enix Europe
• 62 The Lego Ninjago Movie Videogame – Warner Bros. Interactive
• 63 Dirt 4 – Codemasters
• 64 New Super Mario Bros. 2 – Nintendo
• 65 Pokemon Sun – Nintendo
• 66 Tekken 7 – Bandai Namco Entertainment
• 67 The Evil Within 2 – Bethesda Softworks
• 68 L.A. Noire – Take 2
• 69 Lego Marvel Avengers – Warner Bros. Interactive
• 70 Tom Clancy’s The Division – Ubisoft
• 71 Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End – Sony Computer Ent.
• 72 Steep – Ubisoft
• 73 Hidden Agenda – Sony Computer Ent.
• 74 Gears Of War 4 Microsoft
• 75 Pro Evolution Soccer 2018 Konami
• 76 Knowledge Is Power Sony Computer Ent.
• 77 Just Dance 2017 – Ubisoft
• 78 Ark: Survival Evolved – Studio Wildcard
• 79 Miitopia – Nintendo
• 80 Final Fantasy Xv – Square Enix Europe
• 81 Wipeout: Omega Collection – Sony Computer Ent.
• 82 Football Manager 2018 – Sega
• 83 Lego Jurassic World – Warner Bros. Interactive
• 84 Pokemon Moon – Nintendo
• 85 Minecraft: Story Mode – Complete Adv. – Telltale Games
• 86 Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection – Ubisoft
• 87 Rayman Legends – Ubisoft
• 88 Micro Machines: World Series – Codemasters
• 89 Minecraft: Story Mode – Season 2 – Telltale Games
• 90 Tomodachi Life – Nintendo
• 91 Titanfall 2 – Electronic Arts
• 92 Star Wars Battlefront – Electronic Arts
• 93 Halo Wars 2 – Microsoft
• 94 Super Mario Maker – Nintendo
• 95 Yooka-laylee – Team 17
• 96 Farpoint – Sony Computer Ent.
• 97 The Witcher Iii: Wild Hunt Goty Edition – Bandai Namco Entertainment
• 98 NBA 2K17 – 2K/Take Two
• 99 Halo 5: Guardians – Microsoft
• 100 Persona 5 – Atlus