10 Best Selling Video Games in 2017

The 10 Best Selling Video Games in 2017 have all had impressive starts to the year, having sold at least 1.49 million copies each before the year’s halfway point.

Digital sales have been particularly strong on PC and consoles, with $7.7 billion in sales in April on the back of a record $8 billion in digital sales in March. Nor is the trend expected to slow down any time soon. Morgan Stanley analyst Brian Nowak predicts that 50% of game sales will be through digital distribution by 2019, a noteworthy jump from a predicted 38% this year and 32% in 2016.

That’s also great news for game developers like Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA), Nintendo Co., Ltd (ADR) (OTCMKTS:NTDOY), Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO), Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE), and Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI), who enjoy greater margins on games sold digitally. The loser in this equation are physical stores like GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME), shares of which are down by over 17% in 2017, despite the company exceeding Q1 earnings expectations thanks to strong Nintendo Switch sales.

Speaking of the Switch, despite the limited availability of consoles, two Switch games rank among the ten best selling games of 2017 thus far, while Nintendo has three games on the list overall. Unsurprisingly, eight of the ten best selling games of 2017 were released this year. They also represent a variety of gaming genres, as video gaming continues to appeal to a wide swath of tastes, in stark contrast to gaming’s traditional entertainment competitor, the movie business, which is now firmly dominated by comic book/superhero movies.

One area where gaming has yet to gain a ton of momentum is VR. After being all the rage the last two years, VR was virtually absent at this year’s E3 (gaming’s biggest annual event). Sony has sold about 1 million PlayStation VR units and 5 million PS VR games, which is solid, yet only a fraction of the console’s 60 million-strong userbase. Nonetheless, game companies are convinced that VR is the future and will likely replace gaming on a television screen completely at some point.

Whether the future is VR or something else, gaming has a lot of bulls in the hedge fund industry. One of the biggest is Zach Schreiber of $10 billion hedge fund Point State Capital, which took new positions in Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) and Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) in Q1. At least 49 of the hedge funds in our system were shareholders of each of the three major U.S video game stocks (EA, Take-Two, Activision) on March 31.

Before we get to the top selling games, let’s take a quick look at how the major video game platforms are doing. Nintendo’s 3DS handheld system leads the way with nearly 65 million units sold. Sony’s PlayStation 4 is next with 58 million, nearly double the 29.59 million Xbox Ones that have been sold. Sony’s PlayStation Vita (which still has games coming out for it) handheld has sold 15.53 million copies, while the Switch currently stands at 3.48 million.

We used sales data estimates from VGChartz to compile our list, merging the sales of games on multiple consoles (which VGChartz lists separately) to come up with the 10 Best Selling Video Games in 2017 so far. It should be noted that the following list does not include PC games or PC sales figures for games which have appeared on both PC and video game systems. Check out the list beginning on the next page.

For more gaming facts and figures, don’t miss the list of the 12 Highest Grossing Video Games Of All Time.

10. Mass Effect: Andromeda (XOne, PS4)

Publisher: Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA)

2017 Sales: 1.49 million

Lifetime Sales: 1.49 million

BioWare’s latest Mass Effect game has narrowly outsold Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare in 2017, claiming tenth spot on the list. BioWare can thank Xbox One players, as Andromeda has outsold Infinite Warfare on that console by a little over 41,000 copies. In contrast, Infinite Warfare has sold 13,000 more copies than Andromeda on PS4.

However, Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) has to be asking themselves where all of the game’s Xbox fanbase has gone. The Mass Effect trilogy averaged 3 million copies sold per game on Xbox 360 alone, while Andromeda is currently languishing at 526,159 copies on Xbox One. The XOne’s smaller install base in comparison to the 360 is a factor, but doesn’t totally account for the large decline.

With sales taking such a severe downturn, it raises the possibly that this could be the last Mass Effect game we see for some time. While the game was supposed to have a sequel, it’s reportedly been shelved indefinitely, with sales of Andromeda no doubt partially to blame.

9. Monster Hunter Double Cross (3DS)

Publisher: Capcom

2017 Sales: 1.52 million

Lifetime Sales: 1.52 million

Monster Hunter continues to be one of the most popular series in the world, with Double Cross (or XX) crossing the 1.5 million copies sold mark recently. An enhanced HD version has also been announced for the Switch, which will support cross-play with the 3DS version. The action-RPG series is centered around confrontations with gigantic beasts, which can be tackled solo or cooperatively.

8. For Honor (XOne, PS4)

Publisher: Ubisoft

2017 Sales: 1.69 million

Lifetime Sales: 1.69 million

Ubisoft Montreal’s action combat game For Honor is probably the biggest surprise showing on the list, given that it’s a new IP (one of only two to make the list) and features rather quirky game mechanics. The third-person faction-based combat game is intensely focused on the multiplayer experience, pitting hordes of players against each other in gorgeous and brutal medieval warfare. There are some minor character building and customization options, but at its core For Honor is all about the thrill of combat.

7. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Switch)

Publisher: Nintendo Co., Ltd (ADR) (OTCMKTS:NTDOY)

2017 Sales: 1.72 million

Lifetime Sales: 1.72 million

The Deluxe edition of Mario Kart 8 on Nintendo’s Switch lands in seventh spot on the list of the 10 Best Selling Video Games in 2017. It ranked as the fastest-selling game in Mario Kart’s storied history, with 459,000 copies being sold on launch day in the U.S alone. With the Switch still relatively scarce in North America, we’ll likely see Mario Kart 8 Deluxe’s sales remain strong throughout the year as more and more gamers finally get their hands on new consoles.

6. Pokemon Sun/Moon (3DS)

Publisher: Nintendo Co., Ltd (ADR) (OTCMKTS:NTDOY)

2017 Sales: 1.77 million

Lifetime Sales: 13.80 million

Pokemon Sun and Pokemon Moon (two versions of what is essentially the same game) have combined to sell 1.77 million copies this year, pushing their lifetime sales to nearly 14 million copies. The monster collecting RPG series remains as popular as ever, with the series’ seventh generation of games selling like hotcakes despite the presence of Pokemon Go on mobile devices, which has also been a huge hit. Pokemon Sun/Moon was the second-best selling video game of 2016, behind only FIFA 17 (yes Pokemon fans, you got outsold by a soccer game; for shame).

5. Grand Theft Auto V (XOne, X360, PS4, PS3)

Publisher: Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO)

2017 Sales: 2.05 million

Lifetime Sales: 59.53 million

Grand Theft Auto V, one of the best selling video games of all time, continues to sell boatloads of copies more than two years after its release as it closes in on 60 million copies sold on consoles. Needless to say, the game is as popular as ever, online and off, as evidenced by the recent brouhaha that resulted from Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:TTWO) removing support for the OpenIV mod on PC. That mod allowed players to tweak the game’s single player mode in whichever ways they liked. However, Take-Two recently claimed that the mod was also being used by some people in the online portion of the game to amass mounds of illicit wealth, prompting the crackdown.

4. Resident Evil VII: Biohazard (XOne, PS4)

Publisher: Capcom

2017 Sales: 2.55 million

Lifetime Sales: 2.55 million

Resident Evil VII: Biohazard introduced some major changes to the storied survival horror franchise, not least of which was the fact that it’s played from a first-person perspective. That also made it ideally suited to being played in VR, and indeed, it’s one of the first major games to have PS VR support (support for VR on Xbox and Windows is coming in 2018). Yet despite the new additions, Biohazard was also a return to the series’ roots in many ways, with the focus being put back on the atmosphere and exploration of a single large location. Biohazard ranks as the third-fastest selling Resident Evil game.

3. Horizon: Zero Dawn (PS4)

Publisher: Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE)

2017 Sales: 2.84 million

Lifetime Sales: 2.84 million

Horizon: Zero Dawn is the best selling original IP this year, and the best selling original IP ever on PS4. The action-RPG, made by the development team behind the Killzone series, takes place on a post-apocalyptic earth that is now ruled by robots. There is a large emphasis placed on exploring the vast environments and learning about the world and its scattered traces of humanity, with quests driving the player forward into the unknown. Sony Corp (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) plans to build on the success of the game by turning it into a major franchise, with years-worth of future content already mapped out.

2. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands (XOne, PS4)

Publisher: Ubisoft

2017 Sales: 2.90 million

Lifetime Sales: 2.90 million

The second-best selling game of 2017 is Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands. After the immense success of the online open-world RPG The Division, Wildlands is more of a return to the series’ roots of squad-based tactical action, though it’s the first Ghost Recon game to take place in a large, open-world environment. There are a wide range of quests and mission types to challenge as you attempt to take down a Bolivian drug cartel, and the large world allows for multiple ways to tackle infiltration missions. However, there isn’t much in the way of advanced weaponry, which may prove disappointing to fans who have come to expect cool weapons and gadgets with each new installment.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Switch, WiiU)

Publisher: Nintendo Co., Ltd (ADR) (OTCMKTS:NTDOY)

2017 Sales: 3.77 million

Lifetime Sales: 3.77 million

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild tops the list of the 10 Best Selling Video Games in 2017, having sold about 2.77 million copies on the Switch and 1 million on the Wii U. Breath of the Wild took the iconic Zelda series in a new direction, with a massive open world to explore and a greater emphasis on finding and utilizing new equipment. Breath of the Wild is considered one of the best games Nintendo has ever created, which is saying a ton, and rightfully deserves its place atop this list.

Which game do you think will end up as the best selling game of 2017? Which game that missed the top-10 deserved to be on it.  Share your thoughts with our other readers in the comments.

Disclosure: None