2008’s Top Selling Games

Next Generation has aggregated the sales numbers for 2008 (NA and Western Europe, retail only), which makes for interesting reading. Unsurprisingly, Call of Duty 4, Halo 3 and Guitar Hero III top the list. Original property sure isn’t going strong, Assassin’s Creed is the only original IP in the top 10. Familiar faces:

92. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
PS3 (other versions came out earlier and are not counted here)
530K
93%
March/RPG
Bethesda/Bethesda
Joe Rybicki (1Up): (But if you don’t own a 360 or a high-end gaming PC, I have this piece of advice for you: Run — do not walk, run — to your local game retailer and buy this game.)

34. Mass Effect
X360 Exclusive
1.4M
91%
November/RPG
Microsoft/BioWare
Mike Torres (Deeko): (Mass Effect stands as one of the most genre defining games this year for any console… even with its small faults.)

29. BioShock
X360/PC
1.7M
96%
August/Shooter
2K Games/2K Boston
Andrew Pfister (1Up): (By the time it ends, you’ll likely feel quite different about how you interact with games, and more importantly, how they interact with you.)

The Witcher, which has sold over 600k copies should come in at around spot number 80, but since most its sales are Eastern (or Central) Europe Next Generation makes no mention of it.