Every year since 2009, a Call of Duty game or the newest release from Rockstar Games has been the No. 1 best-selling title of the year in the United States. But in 2023, that lengthy run could come to an end.
Hogwarts Legacy remains the No. 1 best-selling game of 2023 in the US, and according to Circana analyst Mat Piscatella, it is “certainly possible” that the game will finish 2023 on top, beating Modern Warfare III.
Hogwarts Legacy launched in February, while Modern Warfare III arrived in November, so the Harry Potter game has a huge advantage in terms of total time in the market relative to Call of Duty. Beyond that, Piscatella told IGN that Modern Warfare II is selling worse than Modern Warfare II did a year ago during a similar length of time on the market.
Modern Warfare III also had poor reviews relative to Modern Warfare II and previous entries in the series, but whether or not the game’s critical reception had any relation to sales is unknown.
And in any event, Modern Warfare III is not doing badly from a commercial perspective. It was the No. 1 best-selling game of November in the US, and after just a month on the market, it became 2023’s No. 2 best-selling game of the year. In fact, Circana’s tracking period for November only runs up to November 25, so Modern Warfare III became 2023’s No. 2 best-selling game in the US after just 15 days on the market.
Helping Hogwarts Legacy, meanwhile, is the fact that it just recently came to Nintendo Switch and is putting up big numbers on that platform. For November, Hogwarts Legacy was the No. 2 best-selling Switch game in the US, trailing only Nintendo’s own Super Mario Bros. Wonder.
Given the huge success of Hogwarts Legacy, many are expecting a sequel, but that has not been confirmed. What we do know is a Quidditch game is in the works called Quidditch Champions. Controversial author J.K. Rowling is not involved with Hogwarts Legacy. You can read GameSpot’s piece regarding her comments on sexual identity and gender to inform yourself about the context.
For more sales data, check out the top 20 best-selling games in the US for November 2023 and the top 20 best-selling games of 2023 so far.
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