It’s amazing just how much better games have been from indie devs and smaller publishers. I don’t see a single game from EA, Ubisoft, or Activision on there.
Cost cutting and designing for the lowest common denominator. Suits are afraid to take risks, because they want to sell to the widest possible audience. So they end up playing it safe and making bland milquetoast games that all feel exactly the same.
Too bad their newer game (Split Fiction) wasn’t that good. I read good reviews about it, but when I played it it was completely disappointing: stupid story, repetitive games, no “aaahh” moments like in their previous games.
You can hate me for saying this, but there’s no way Minecraft shouldn’t be on that chart. If this data is right Minecraft Revenue and Usage Statistics (2025), the sales between 2020 and 2023 would be ~100M.
I suspect these are the best selling games which released between 2020 and 2025. For instance, Breath of the Wild has sold about 33 million copies, over 10 million more than Tears of the Kingdom but was released in 2017.
The sentence itself, could be taken either way, but any reasonably intelligent gamer would be able see the list has only games released since 2020 and know which way to take the sentence.
There’s nothing about this that says “Best-Selling Video Games Released Between 2020-2025”.
And, the tagline “Where Data Tells The Story” really means they should be explaining exactly the data they are presenting. Accurate framing is every bit as important as the information… You can’t assume that two people looking at the same piece of information are going to interpret it the same way unless it is properly framed and presented.
Oh, I get it…but my point is not everyone will get it, and the information is inaccurate. Sorry you can’t understand that data presentation isn’t just about gamers…it’s a much larger issue these days… And this is just a really good example of it being handled badly.
Their source is this page on the Video Game Sales Wiki, which does say “The following titles are the best-selling games released in the 2020s, as of 2025.”. That’s how I read the headline, but you’re right, it would have helped if Visual Capitalist had clarified by including that bit of info.
I had no idea Animal Crossing was that high. It’s a stupid game with no point to it… and I can’t help but play it 2-3 times a week, even if it’s just to check in. It definitely has its moments. I gave my wife shit for paying $60 for it, and I played it daily for most of the year since we got it. (She dropped it after a couple weeks, which tanked my progress since only the first player can advance the island. We started over with me starting an island and she played here and there. Then she quit, and I wanted to start over again… and she hasn’t used the new island yet, and I’ve had it for over 7 months now. It will be my forever island.)
And Hogwarts over everything but Animal Crossing? That’s kinda wild. I did not think that game was that big. Currently playing it, it was recently given away on Epic Game Store, I wonder if giveaways count (probably not). It’s basically the Harry Potter simulator we’ve all wanted for the last 20-25 years. Whenever those books and movies started coming out. Except it doesn’t have Harry Potter, or anything from the series but the places.
Well. I have about 1500 hours in AC and around 160 in Hogwarts. So those are probably both my most game hours.
Next is probably outlast trials. ~100 ish I have an eclectic taste in games.
AC is a cozy designer game. And you can play with friends. It was the best game for a pandemic. Not just a girls game either. Half my guy friends played the hell out of that game. I also was a AC new leaf fan so I was so ready for new horizons.
Its not that different than games like Minecraft. I think it appeals to people in similar ways.
As for Hogwarts.
For a lot of us millennials who grew up with Harry Potter ,the game felt like being in a Harry Potter movie. It was a beautiful game at 4k. Like I couldn’t believe how beautiful every square inch of the castle was. I spent a lot of time exploring. I did literally every single side quest and found all the demiguise statues. And all the items. And all the animals. All the mounts.
I do believe there was 60-80 side quests ? Something like that.
That’s how I spent 160 in the game.
I get that a lot of people don’t want Rowling to get any money as she is anti trans.
Rowling had nothing to do with the game aside from owning the IP.
No input or anything on the game.
I’m not here to defend her.
I will say though that a very large portion of things we love and that bring us happiness are tainted.
And we have to decide for ourselves if we can separate the art from the artist or not. And it’s a personal decision.
Examples. Walt Disney was antisemitic.
Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice in wonderland was a pedo. Bill gates was a visitor of Epstein’s Island.(Creator of windows) A shit ton of actors and musicians are pro Israel Zionist. A lot of sports players have domestic battery charges. Alfred Hitchcock was a bad guy (me too situations).
Speaking of. Harvey Weinstein was part of many many movie productions.
I’m not excusing any of these people nor their behaviors.
What I’m saying is. We all get to choose if we want to separate people from their work.
And some will and some won’t.
And I don’t think judging others just because they bought the Hogwarts game and love the Hp universe, is fair.
I’m certainly not ok with her statements on trans topics.
However I’m not giving up something I love. I can separate her from it.
You too, likely still enjoy media by a shitty garbage human.
My favorite thing about Sandy Peterson is that he is a Mormon. Now that I like that he’s religious. But when he was applying to ID Software to make Doom levels, they were concerned about his religious background. Then he said his famous line “I have no problems with the demons in the game. They’re just cartoons. And, anyway, they’re the bad guys.”
But when they said, “Well at least you’re not like one of the crazy ones who carries a card.” And Sandy whips out his Mormon card.
I’m confused. I get the The Exorcist reference but I don’t get why it’s relevant here or why this person is going places where people can talk to them about the game if they don’t want people talking to them about the game.
The reference is an example of a flippant sort of response of answering the request, but with something lacking the depth the person was asking about.
He probably doesn’t mind talking about the game broadly, but it can be a bit much for someone to be annoying about saying it should have been a different genre that they would have enjoyed. I suppose your question could be flipped around, why attend a panel discussing doom if you don’t really care for doom?
I don’t think people would go to one unless they cared which is part of why I am confused. Out of context this just comes off as somebody bragging about being an ass to a random fan.
Wasn’t the original vision of Doom closer to an RPG than the action game it came out to be? I know I read somewhere (one of the books written about development of the game) it was originally meant to have a bigger story, multiple characters, dialogue, etc.
… OK, I read masters of doom. Quake had a vision, that vision became daikatana.
The problem was that Romero couldn’t bring everyone on board, because it was too complex and they slapped whatever everyone did together; hence the random design
Although, I did play and learn about Rise of the Triad, which is what Tom’s vision for the Wolfenstein 3d sequel turned into, and it was still a run and gun shooter.
EDIT : I suggested quake because you said you were unsure :)
Maybe? The devs played DnD during development and the chapter text definitely sounds like a GM setting the scene. Supposedly Daikatana is closer to John Romero’s vision of Doom(it was Quake). It’s not great though, so if they tried to implement those ideas back with Doom, it probably wouldn’t have been as well received. Doom has a sort of K.I.S.S. design.
Games like System Shock and Deus Ex are examples of “FPS” games with alternatives to shooting. Those kinds of games are completely my jam. I love to find a way to complete the whole level without ever firing a shot. The Deus Ex remake had an achievement for passing a level without ever being spotted in an unauthorized place, never setting off an alarm, etc. It also had one for completing a level without killing anybody. It took 5x as long, but I made sure to get both those achievements on every level.
I’m sure the id software crew knew what they were doing, and the market for demon-murdering FPS games is probably much bigger than the market for First Person Sneakers. OTOH, there are currently a glut of FPS murder games, so there’s probably a real niche for someone who’s willing to create a game where shooting is possible, and happens sometimes, but stealth and nonviolence is also an option.
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