Best Sellers, Nov 07 to Nov 08: Sequels sequels and more sequels

Here’s a list of the eight top selling games over the last 12 months. Big surprise: all except Wii Fit are sequels. Check out the full article for the details.

I suppose no one’s going to be all that shocked that the best selling games over the last 12 months are mostly sequels.

You know what you’re getting into when buying a sequel to a good game and there are usually quite a few significant improvements in the new version. Compare that to the risk you undertake on an unknown original title and the choice should be obvious.

Still… seven out of the top eight games is a little bit surprising.

Here are the top selling games over the last 12 months. Note that these are approximate values based on data from various sources:

1. Call of Duty 4 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC
• 10 million copies sold
• Released November 6, 2007
2. Halo 3 for the Xbox 360
• 8 million copies sold
• Released September 25, 2007
3. Grand Theft Auto 4 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC
• 6.5 million copies sold
• Released April 29, 2008
4. Mario Kart Wii for the Wii
• 6.5 million copies sold
• Released April 10, 2008
5. Super Mario Galaxy for the Wii
• 6 million copies sold
• Released November 1, 2007
6. Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii
• 5 million copies sold
• Released January 31, 2008
7. Wii Fit for the Wii
• 5 million copies sold
• Release December 1, 2007 (in Japan, later elsewhere)
8. Metal Gear Solid 4 for the PlayStation 3
• 3 million copies sold
• Released June 12, 2008

It would be easy for you to speculate that we’re going to be seeing much the same come 2009 with games like Final Fantasy XIII gearing up to make an appearance, and you’d be right for the most part.

I can respect originality as much as the next gamer. In fact, it ranks highly on my list of values when I rate a game. The problem is that unknown and untested games are often priced as much as games like Halo 3. I feel Halo  earned my respect enough to deserve my repeated, almost unquestioned patronage over the course of its many titles.

I realize the difficulty for original IP publishers to sell at reduced rates but from a consumer’s point of view, how can they expect us to take on the burden of the risk without any incentive?

• Gamasutra reveals their top games for 2008
• Second Top Global Markets Report released: Top games for Q3 revealed
  

Via Seeking Alpha