The original PlayStation hit U.S. shores 30 years ago today, helping usher in a disc-based gaming revolution that reshaped the industry. Four new consoles and lots of hardware iterations later, PlayStation is the undisputed winner in the high-end console gaming space. What were the top-selling games that helped it get there? A newly released list of the top all-time performers across all PlayStation platformers in the States tells part of the story, and it’s a pretty depressing one.
Circana gaming research director Mat Piscatella released the list of the top 20 games across PlayStation’s history in the U.S. by unit sales to commemorate the PS1’s birthday. Here they are:
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Minecraft
- Red Dead Redemption II
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019)
- Marvel’s Spider-Man
- Call of Duty: Black Ops III
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
- Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- The Last of Us God of War (2018)
- God of War (2018)
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
- Call of Duty: Black Ops
- Rainbow Six: Siege
- Call of Duty: Black Ops II
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Call of Duty: Black Ops 4
The top spots aren’t shocking. GTA 5 and Minecraft are the two best-selling game ever across any platform. Red Dead Redemption II is the fifth-best. Sony’s critically acclaimed first-party blockbusters also rank highly. And then it’s just a sea of Call of Duty. Modern Warfare, Black Ops, good ones, bad ones, it doesn’t matter, they all rank, smothering any greater sense of the breadth, variety, and whimsy of the games released on PS1, PS2, PS3, PS4, and PS5 over the years.
“Man, this list makes me sad,” Digital Foundry‘s John Linneman opined. “Most people playing games really only play the same few titles huh.” Big sigh. Much agree. Cultural PlayStation juggernauts that didn’t make the list include but are not limited to: WipeOut, Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid 2, Tekken 3, Street Fighter 4, Dark Souls, Nier: Automata, The Witcher 3, Persona 5, and Cyberpunk 2077.
Even now, annualized Call of Duty sequels remain yearly best-sellers, cannibalizing much of the remaining market for big-budget console releases. I keep waiting for the wheels to fall off the Activision military shooter machine, not because the games are terrible or I want anyone to lose their jobs but because I think we have enough Call of Duty to last us another quarter century and I bet all of those developers could make new, original stuff that’s really cool, too.
