Hogwarts Legacy was the best-selling video game in the U.S. in 2023, the first time a non-Call of Duty or Rockstar game was best-selling game of the year since 2008’s Rockband.
Mat Piscatella, executive director of video games at Circana, noted Hogwarts Legacy was the best selling game of the year in the U.S. by dollar sales on PlayStation platforms, ranked second on Xbox platforms, and placed fifth on Nintendo platforms.
Hogwarts Legacy beat Activision’s Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 to the top spot. EA’s Madden NFL 24 came in third, Sony’s Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 fourth, and Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is fifth.
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Circana’s report does not include download sales from some publishers, including Nintendo, however. This means Tears of the Kingdom’s place on the list, for example, would be higher if all sales were included. Similarly, fellow Switch exclusive Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which is the fastest-selling Mario game of all-time, would likely have finished 2023 higher than 12th place.
Activision Blizzard does not share Battle.net sales, which means Blizzard’s action role-playing game Diablo 4 might also have featured higher than sixth place.
Circana does not reveal individual sales figures for video games in the U.S. either, but we do know Hogwarts Legacy sold an incredible 22 million copies globally in 2023. Spider-Man 2 sold more than five million copies in 11 days and became the fastest-selling PlayStation Studios game over a 24 hour period when it sold more than 2.5 million copies in just one day. Tears of the Kingdom had sold 19.5 million copies worldwide by the end of September, so its final tally for 2023 will be somewhat higher.
Interestingly, Bethesda’s Starfield failed to crack the top 10 for 2023 sales. The PC and Xbox Series X and S RPG launched day-one on Game Pass, which may have dampened sales. Microsoft does not disclose sales of its video games, preferring instead to talk in engagement terms. Last month, Bethesda said Starfield had seen 13 million players since going on sale in September.
And conspicuous by its absence is Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game Baldur's Gate 3, which is surely one of the best-selling games of the year after its phenomenal success since going on sale in August. Developer Larian does not share sales data with Circana, but if it did, Baldur's Gate 3 would likely have appeared in the top five.
The Top 20 Best Selling Games of 2023
Data courtesy of Circana. Digital sales not included for games published by Nintendo. Baldur's Gate 3 developer Larian does not share sales data with Circana.
Top 10 Best Selling Games of 2023 in the U.S.:
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3
- Madden NFL 24
- Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
- The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
- Diablo 4
- Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2
- Mortal Kombat 1
- Star Wars Jedi Survivor
- EA Sports FC 24
While Microsoft is down as publisher of just two games in the top 20, if we include games from Activision Blizzard, which it now owns, then Xbox is responsible for five games: Modern Warfare 3, Modern Warfare 2, Diablo 4, Starfield, and Minecraft.
Overall, annual U.S. spending on video game content, hardware and accessories reached $57.2 billion in 2023, an increase of 1% when compared to 2022. December spending grew 4%, to $7.9 billion.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
