
2022 was a year of vast success in the video game industry and also managed to reintroduce many beloved franchises that have not seen great recognition in years, while others continue to impress fans. Compared to prior years, 2022 has sold a whopping $97.67 billion US dollars according to J. Clement with Statista, which has set a new record in the industry. Here are the top 10 selling games that have helped to reach this amount.
âMLB: The Show 22â

âMLB: The Show 22,â released on April 5, 2022, is the 17th edition of the âMLB The Showâ series. As the first of the series to be playable on the Nintendo Switch, its sales were bound to be greater. With updated graphics and cleaner animations, âMLB The Show 22â attempts to up its game against its previous installments.Â
Despite this, âMLB: The Show 22â didnât get as high a rating since last yearâs, however, it doesnât mean that itâs a bad game. All and all, âMLB: The Show 22â is still great for people who enjoy baseball and will continue to be for years to come.
Jason Chase, an avid enjoyer for MLB games, compares this yearâs âMLB: The Showâ to âMLB: The Show 21.â
âYear after year it essentially feels like the same game, with a few small changes such as a new game mode or new customization options,â Chase said. âPlayers get the new game each year because it has all the new players and those small updates maybe some new legends. It feels new for a couple months, but feels like the old game real quick.â
âHorizon II: Forbidden Westâ

Nominated in seven 2022 Game Awards categories, âHorizon II: Forbidden Westâ follows Aloyâs journey in the sequel to the game âHorizon Zero Dawn,â in an action open world Role Playing Game (RPG). Released on Feb. 18, 2022, the game has received many positive reviews from critics and praise for the much larger setting than the previous game.Â
âIt’s more of the same from âZero Dawnâ in a lot of ways, but with significant improvements across the board to create a generally superior experience,â Game Rant, an avid video game critic added.
âPokĂ©mon Legends: Arceusâ

âPokĂ©mon Legends: Arceus,â considered by many to be an experiment by GameFreak and Nintendo, was released on Jan. 28, 2022. Arceus was the first in many to alter the past PokĂ©mon formulas, resulting in the selling of 13.91 million copies as of Sept. 22, 2022. Having to only keep catching, battling and trading PokĂ©mon mechanics, âLegends: Arceusâ also manages to use different styles to mix up the way players fight. Also, it has an open world to explore and catch PokĂ©mon freely rather than being locked into purely turn-based combat.
âFIFA 23âÂ

âFIFA 23,â released Sept. 27, 2022, is yet another addition to the EA Sports franchise. Selling over fourteen million copies, âFIFA 23â has managed to surpass its predecessor, âFIFA 22,â by a 6% increase in sales; this could be due to the hype around this yearâs World Cup.Â
With this, both the Menâs 2022 and Women’s 2023 World Cup modes have been reintroduced to the franchise.Â
âPokĂ©mon Scarlet and Violet”

âPokĂ©mon Scarlet and Violet,â the ninth generation of PokĂ©mon, explores concepts first experimented with in the recent âPokĂ©mon: Legends Arceus.â Just like Arceus, âScarlet and Violetâ allows for much more freedom and exploration around the world instead of using the typical turn-based combat through random chance. Selling ten million copies in only the first three days of its release, it was bound to continue its trend of success. Â
âLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga”

âLEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Sagaâ continues to impress Star Wars fans with its massive improvements compared to past LEGO Star Wars games. Having an
expansive galaxy to explore and a wide roster to choose from, there are limitless new discoveries to be made by players. All nine episodes total approximately 18 and a half hours of playing time. With its many new incorporated features, its five million copies sold are well deserved.
âGod of War Ragnarökâ

A highly-anticipated sequel to Santa Monica Studioâs highly successful first entry to the series, âGod of War,â âGod of War Ragnarökâ has managed to further awe its already invested fans with beautiful effects, an intriguing story and highly satisfying combat. Alongside these attributes, the game managed to sell over five million copies in only its first week released, claiming the title of Playstationâs fastest seller.
âMadden NFL 23âÂ

âMadden NFL 23,â now the third sports game entry on this list, as expected, had many improvements to the 2021 game, âMadden NFL 22,â both visually and mechanically. These improvements truly take advantage of what next-gen and newer PCs have to offer. This was one of the reasons for its great success on the market coming in at the third-highest-selling game of 2022.
âElden Ringâ

From Softwareâs newest âsouls game,â âElden Ring,â was not only able to earn the title of Game Of The Year (GOTY) due to its incredible open world, combat, storyline and exploration aspects, but also was the second highest selling game in the US, with around twenty million copies sold. âElden Ringâ took the gaming community by storm in the earlier half of 2022 and still has a massive player base to this day.
Junior Daniel Martinez has truly enjoyed his time spent playing âElden Ring.â
âItâs one of the best open world Role Playing Game (RPG) games I have ever played,â Martinez said. âIt genuinely deserved the award of GOTY; the feeling of being able to explore and have so much freedom of customization was incredible.â
âCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″

âCall Of Duty (COD): Modern Warfare 2â was released alongside the sequel to popular battle royale, âCall of Duty: Warzone 2,â both being majorly successful in the industry. Considering the major letdown to the two previous entries to the franchise, âCall of Duty: Cold Warâ and âCall of Duty: Vanguard,â fans did not particularly have very high hopes.
Yes, the game still had many issues such as major crashes at launch and an underwhelming gulag system, but it still brought back that âCOD sparkâ fans were hoping for. Outstandingly, the game was able to surpass 100 million copies sold, far exceeding all other competitors on this list.Â
Though the other games could not come close to âMWIIâsâ insurmountable amount, this does not take away from the fact that these games all assisted in the industry’s outstanding success in 2022.
John Darksoul ◊ Mar 13, 2023 at 9:32 am
ELDEN RING ON TOP RAHHH