January is the time when everyone looks back at the previous year and reflects on the best things to come out of it. You’ll see year-end lists ranking movies, books, music, and of course, video games. This isn’t just any ordinary January, however. This is January of 2020, meaning that we’re putting an entire decade behind us, so we have a lot more to reflect on.
There’s no shortage of gamers out there publishing their lists of best games of the decade, but what were the best selling games of the decade? That list is starting to make the rounds and if you take a look, you’ll see an eclectic mix of franchises – no, I’m just kidding, it’s almost entirely Call of Duty.
Unsurprisingly, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, which was released on October 25th, was not only the best-selling game of December but of 2019 as a whole. Call of Duty’s enduring popularity is still going strong after 2007’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare brought the franchise to the modern-day and gave it a shot in the arm that not only revitalized it but turned it into a nigh-unstoppable super beast.
So what are the top ten best-selling games of the decade? Grand Theft Auto V sits at the top of the list (which is based on U.S. dollar sales), as not only was it the most commercially successful game of the decade, but it’s also the third best-selling video game of all-time. Red Dead Redemption 2 is also on the list, giving Rockstar two places. Minecraft, which is the best-selling game of all time based on units moved, hangs on the list at number ten, a truly impressive feat for a game sold at a fraction of the price of AAA titles.
The rest of the list? Call of Duty. Call of Duty, Call of Duty, and more Call of Duty. All four Black Ops titles, Modern Warfare 3, WW2, and even the poorly received Call of Duty: Ghosts round out the top ten most profitable games of the decade. And if you go beyond the list, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and 2019’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare make up numbers 11 and 12. Oh, and Infinite Warfare is in the top 20, too.
Sony’s PlayStation 4 was the best-selling hardware of the decade, but that’s not Call of Duty, so who cares? Gamers only care about Call of Duty.
