Hogwarts Legacy is the first non-CoD or Rockstar game to top US sales in 15 years
2023 marked the first time in 15 years that a Call of Duty or Rockstar game didn’t top the annual sales chart in the United States.
Hogwarts Legacy was last year’s No.1 game based on dollar sales (as opposed to unit sales), according Mat Piscatella, executive director at research firm Circana.
Rock Band was the last non-Call of Duty or Rockstar game to achieve the feat back in 2008.
Overall, Call of Duty was the best-selling franchise in the US in 2023 (excluding add-on content) for a record 15th year running, with Modern Warfare 3 coming in at No.2 on the annual software chart and Modern Warfare 2 at No.7.
Madden NFL 24 charted at No.3, ahead of PS5 exclusive Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 at No.4.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was at No.5 based on physical sales alone, as Nintendo doesn’t share its digital sales data for inclusion in Circana’s reports.
On the hardware front, PS5 was the best-selling console last year in both units and dollars, followed by Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X/S.
PS5 helped Sony set a new monthly record for PlayStation hardware dollar sales in December, beating the company’s previous high recorded in December 2022.
Total US consumer spending on game hardware, content and accessories reached $57.2 billion in 2023, which was up 1% compared to 2022.
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