Top 20 best selling games of 2018 – Black Ops 4, RDR2 and more

The NPD Group has unveiled the top selling video games of 2018 in the U.S., with some expected and not-so-expected results, as the battle for sales between Call of Duty and Red Dead Redemption finally settles.

Take Two Interactive scored a massive hit with the sequel to the 2010 classic Red Dead Redemption, with the second entry achieving the single biggest opening weekend in entertainment history.

Raking in $725 million in retail sell-through during its first three days, it beat out Black Ops 4’s $500 million in that same time handsomely – but could it keep up with Call of Duty as 2018 came to a close?

Red Dead Redemption 2 was a record breaking release in 2018.

Although Rockstar may have won the opening weekend battle, Call of Duty was expected to maintain higher sales over the holiday period, bringing the race almost neck and neck.

• More: Red Dead Redemption 2 adds new “Gun Rush” battle royale mode

Sports games also continued to do well, with both Take Two’s NBA 2K19 and EA’s Madden NFL 19 just coming in below the leaders in 2018. NBA 2K has taken the highest selling sports game for three years in a row now.

PlayStation 4 exclusives also performed strongly, with Marvel’s Spider-Man and God of War both making it into the top 10.

Top 20 Best Selling Games of 2018 in the U.S.

Grand Theft Auto V, despite initially being released in 2013, still makes it to the 11th spot, while Battlefield V sales will have disappointed EA, coming in at 14 overall, although its delayed release date until November 20 likely affected this.

Making Red Dead Redemption 2’s result more impressive, is that it’s still not available on PC. A PC release is expected, although not officially confirmed yet.

However, Black Ops 4’s digital sales on PC were not tracked, perhaps evening out the competition somewhat. NPD’s Mat Piscatella said the race for number one was “very close”.