On Mon, 01 Sep 2025 12:57:06 -0400, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
Time to openly mooch off of somebody else's hard work! There's an
article on GameSpot* that lists the top selling games of 2025 (so far)
and I thought it might make an interesting starting point to a
discussion.
I doubt there was any hard work involved. Everyone's data is gushing out
of their machines like a stuck pig. Analytic software can digest and
collate that in seconds. So don't feel bad.
To save you from actually having to click a link, I'll just link the
games here:
1) Monster Hunter Wilds
Got this as a freebie with my new Ryzen. Haven't played yet.
2) Oblivion Remastered
No. Already played it.
3) College Football 26
No.
3) Assassin's Creed Shadows
Ubi. Their corporate culture is gross and abusive. No.
4) Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Absolutely no.
5) MLB The Show 25
Might get this one, it's supposed to be pretty good. And it's 2K, not EA.
6) Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
Dunno. Maybe? It wasn't on my radar until you posted.
7) WWE 2K25
Virtual fake sporty sports.
8) Elden Ring Nightreign
Riding on the coattails.
9) Split Fiction
Huh?
10) NBA 2K25
Virtual *real* sporty sports.
11) Forza Horizon 5
Doesn't everyone have enough racing games already?
12) EA Sports MVP Bundle
Oh my. /All/ the sporty sports?
13) Minecraft
And will be for eternity, Amen.
14) Civilization VII
Suckers.
15) Grand Theft Auto V
Still?
16) PGA Tour 2K25
Virtual *boring* sporty sports.
17) Doom: The Dark Ages
People can't get enough DOOM. They even can't get enough of the original!
18) EA Sports FC 25
Maybe that's enough sports titles, eh? Is that "Football Club?"
19) Red Dead Redemption 2
Still?
20) Donkey Kong Bananza
Wait what? We're not talking exclusively about PC games? I call
shenanigans. Why did you do this to us?! We are the Master Race! Lazy plagiarism is excusable, but off-topic is *forever*.
So, looking at the list, here are some of my thoughts:
First of all, yes, I know there are two #3s, and no, I don't know why
either (a tie maybe? The article doesn't say).
Well, when there's a tie, properly listed there are two #3s and then the
next ordinal is #5. But apparently the authors didn't know that. Or
Nintendo paid them the big bucks to squeeze DK in there. Or they don't
care. Or they did exactly what I said and left it to a hallucinating AI.
Secondly, the fact that sports games are in the top 20
Top 21. I love being "that guy."
is no surprise;
those always sell well. EA has apparently rebounded well with its loss
of the FIFA license.
And people are buying *all* of them in a package?! It's a license to
print money, I say.
Otherwise, there aren't too many surprises, except maybe that "Kingdom
Come Deliverance 2" made the list; given it's not published by a
triple-A and is a bit niche in mechanics makes its success all the
more impressive. But I think a lot of success lies more with the fact
that there's been a dearth of quality open-world first-person fantasy
RPGs recently, and KCD2 is filling that need, more than any real
appeal to the franchise. (Don't mistake me, I think the Kingdom Come
games are great, but I'm not sure they'd normally be able to compete
against other similar games... if any were released).
That games like "Minecraft", "Grand Theft Auto 5" and "Red Dead
Redemption 2" are still selling so well just boggles me.
Still? I know. Well, not Minecraft. That is a forever game, because it
never relied on shiny graphics. It's just good.
Okay, maybe
Minecraft makes sense; there was the new movie this year, and it came
out on Switch 2, and there are always new kids to buy it. And GTA5 has
a rampant gambling economy built around it, so bots gotta keep buying
new copies. But "Red Dead Redemption 2"? Sure it's a great game, but
it's seven years old now, and it doesn't have a HUGE multiplayer
aspect to it. It's weird.
Good to see a slightly offbeat title like "Split Fiction" make the
list.
Huh? What is that? /s
Surprised to see "Civilization VII" rank so high. I suspect that's the
result of satisfaction with earlier Civ games driving sales; I'm not
so sure that Civilization 8 will do as well.
Yup. That's inertia and brand recognition. 2k appears to be at the "suck
all value out of the brand" phase, and then they will blame Civ 8's
failure on piracy. It's a very common corporate response to a lack of creativity or, alternatively, firing all your creatives.
It's unusual (and probably, to Nintendo, quite disheartening) that
there's only one Switch 2-exclusive game on the list. This only
confirms what a lot of other reporters are saying; the Switch 2
hardware sales are doing very well, but the software? Not nearly as
good as expected.
The Switch 2 had no real launch titles. Really. It was a very weak
opening. Two of the "launch titles" are just HDR/hi-res enhancements of
the Zelda titles. I actually watched Nintendo Direct. The only real
launch title was MK World, which is open world Mario Kart. The hell?
The rest is probably going to be dubiously performing third-party ports. They're going to have to tidy up, or people will lose interest.
I'm not interested until Metroid Prime 4, tbh. And then we'll see if that
too is "open world."
As for ports, S2 Elden Ring is literally called the "Tarnished Edition."
That should tell you everything.
https://www.polygon.com/elden-ring-tarnished-edition-gamescom-2025-demo-port-fps-drops/
Ruh roh.
That the "Oblivion Remaster" is number two on the list makes me quite
grumpy. I think it, again, speaks to an unfulfilled need in the
open-world fantasy RPG market (the same one that "Kingdom Come
Deliverance 2" is similarly feeding). But it also means that we'll
probably see an endless string of similar remasters coming from
Bethesda for the next few years too. <sigh>
(*sigh*)
It doesn't annoy me. Newcomers to TES, looking for more than Skyrim, will
enjoy the retread more than the original, so it's a savvy move. I'm happy
that Bethesda decided to rest on their laurels with Skyrim. The legacy
audience has probably outgrown TES by now. Besides, a Morrowind remaster
is assuredly not in the works because it requires too much effort(TM). A
little ray tracing lipstick will not fix graphics that old.
But the kids are alright. Let them have their fun. Don't sweat it.
--
Zag
Give me the liberty to know, to think, to believe,
and to utter freely according to conscience, above
all other liberties. ~John Milton
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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