The video game industry is massive in the United States, with an estimated worth of more than $90 billion. Some 163.3 million American adults and 51.1 million under 18s consider themselves gamers, and all those people purchase plenty of games between them. While publishers dream of winning the coveted Game of the Year award, they are equally as excited to see their title become the best-selling video game in the United States; the results are in!
Sportsbooks in California correctly predicted Elden Ring would clean up at the various Game of the Year awards, but it was not Elden Ring that was the best-selling video game in the United States in 2022. Electronic Arts and Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II clinched the title with time to spare, despite launching eight months later and having only a shade over two months of sales!
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II launched on October 28, 2022, and became the best-selling video game in the US in 2022. Fans of the franchise flocked to online and physical stores to get their hands on the 19th installment of the Call of Duty series.
The game earned $800 million in revenue in the first three days of release and hit $1 billion within ten days. Those crazy sales were enough to clinch the best-selling title of 2022, in addition to making Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II the biggest-selling Call of Duty title in history.
Elden Ring
You will be hard-pressed to find anyone that would argue against FromSoftware’s Elden Ring winning the Game of the Year title because the game is a masterpiece. Elden Ring sold 13.4 million within a month of release and 17.5 million copies within seven months. Those sales helped Elden Ring become the fastest-selling Bandai Namco game of all time.
Elden Ring received universal acclaim from critics and gamers alike, with its Metacritic score being 96/100 on both the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.
Madden NFL 23
Unsurprisingly, the latest edition of the long-running Madden NFL comes in at number three on the list. The NFL is the most-watched sport in the United States, so each Madden title sells well even if critics and reviewers pan the game. Madden NFL 23 received mixed and average reviews, yet it still managed to be the third-best-selling game in the US in 2022.
We are looking forward to Madden NFL 23 predicting the outcome of the upcoming Super Bowl. February 12 sees Super Bowl LVII take place, and EA Sports use the latest installment of the Madden franchise to predict the winner. Since 2004, the game has correctly predicted the Super Bowl winner 11 of the 19 times it has tried.
God of War: Ragnarok
The final installment of the God of War franchise, God of War Ragnarok, is also the best in the series. Sony Interactive Entertainment and Santa Monica Studio released the game into the wild on November 9, 2022, and it still managed to become the fourth-best-selling video game of 2022 in the United States.
Players bought 5.1 million copies of the game in the first week, making it the fastest-selling first-party game in PlayStation history. Only FIFA 23 enjoyed a bigger launch in the soccer-mad United Kingdom; God of War: Ragnarok had a bigger launch than Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Elden Ring.
Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Lego games are always popular, as are Star Wars titles, so Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga was destined to be a significant hit. Launched on April 5, 2022, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga sold more than 3.2 million copies within two weeks and hit five million sales within four months of its release.
Rounding out the top ten are Pokemon: Scarlet/Violet, FIFA 23, Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Horizon II: Forbidden West, and MLB: The Show 22.
