Console exclusives, which are usually first-party nowadays, have always been a hallmark of the gaming industry and are often some of the games hardcore fans look forward too most. This year has seen some standout exclusives including God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, and Forza Horizon 4, all of which received critical acclaim and sold well.
In a time of such solid exclusives, some people, myself included have begun to wonder what the best-selling and most profitable exclusive titles of all time may be. Today, Mat Piscatella, a member of the NPD Group, gave us an idea of just how one-sided this exclusive battle actually is.
Mat has previously revealed what the best selling PS4, Xbox One, and PS Vita games to date are, and as he has “been digging into exclusives a bit” recently he decided to reveal what top 10 selling exclusive video games have been since the NPD group started tracking data in 1995 are. While Sony and Microsoft have definitely put up a good fight, Nintendo dominates all ten slots with titles from the Nintendo 64, DS, and Wii. You can see the full list, which is ranked by dollar sales and doesn’t include digital sales, below:
- Wii Fit
- Wii Play
- Mari Kart Wii
- Wii Fit Plus
- New Super Mario Bros. Wii
- New Super Mario Bros (DS)
- Mario Kart DS
- Super Mario 64
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl
- Wii Sports Resort
The Nintendo Wii and DS are some of the best-selling consoles of all time and appeal to more casual audiences, so it makes sense that they would make up the majority of the list. Meanwhile, Super Mario 64 is one of the most important and well-known games of all time, so its placement makes sense as well.
While the success of all the games listed is fairly well-documented and obvious, it’s pretty satisfying to see those reports reaffirmed through this list based on NPD data. That being said, it also makes me curious about what the highest ranking Sony and Microsoft exclusives are.
Been digging into exclusives a bit, thought this chart interesting. Best-selling exclusives since The NPD Group tracking began in 1995. I’m sure there’s something all these games have in common… trying to put my finger on it. Source: The NPD Group (Updated Chart) pic.twitter.com/g1HMyfSSGW
— Mat Piscatella (@MatPiscatella) November 20, 2018