As part of Ubisoft's slide presentation to investors [PDF], the publisher has assembled a list of the top 20 franchises from between 2005 and 2012, according to cumulative worldwide physical retail sales.
With the release of the Xbox 360 in 2005, this list constitutes the best-selling properties of the current closing console cycle. EA dominates the list with six entries, leading the next-largest holders of the market share, Activision Blizzard and Nintendo, each with three titles. Ubisoft managed to hang on with two titles in the top 20, while other publishers are represented by a single entry, if at all.
Ubisoft's presentation cited sales tracking firms NPD Group and GfK (North America and Europe) as sources of its data. Sales across Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and PC are included.
Here's the list in full, according to Ubisoft's investor presentation:
Top 20 Franchises of the Seventh Console Generation
Call of Duty (Activision Blizzard)
Mario (Nintendo)
FIFA Soccer (EA)
Wii Fit* (Nintendo)
Assassin's Creed (Ubisoft)
Guitar Hero* (Activision Blizzard)
Halo (Microsoft)
Madden NFL (EA)
The Sims (EA)
Need for Speed (EA)
Battlefield (EA)
Just Dance (Ubisoft)
Rock Band (EA)
Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo)
LEGO (TT Games)
Grand Theft Auto (Take-Two)
World of Warcraft (Activision Blizzard)
WWF/WWE (THQ)
Elder Scrolls (Bethesda)
Sonic (SEGA)
*includes hardware
Updated to reflect that these are ranked by physical retail sales.
I find this a little hard to believe. They might have a bit of inaccurate sales data, but most of those titles look like they should be there, just in the wrong position. Hard to believe Just Dance would beat out Rock Band, Elder Scrolls, WWE, WoW, GTA... just seems unlikely. I would need to see some factual numbers to back this data up.
Besides what is meant, when they write "Mario" or "Sonic"? For sure not every game with "Mario" or "Sonic" in it's name, otherwise, it's hard to believe, CoD sold better, then all Mario Jump'n'Runs, Mario Kart Games and Mario Sport games combined.
EDIT: Just saw, they are only counting one Nintendo platform, the Wii, while they excluded the Nintendo DS (I see no reason why), this explains the chart position.
Yeah folks, I updated a couple things after this was published. Note that some of these games include hardware sales (Rock Band did not for some reason). Also Japan is not included, as Media Create was not cited.
@Adam: Just Dance is actually _huge_! Its sales are well-documented.
As I previously loved to snarkily point out, Super Mario 3D land alone likely posted comparable profit in the same year than Rovio posted revenue. Comparing revenue directly it's absolutely no contest.
If you were to actually include mobile, Mario Kart would feature way higher, Pokemon would be in the top end, and Brain Training would be featuring pretty high up the bottom end of the list. That would at a minimum bump Elder Scrolls off the list, and Sega would be missing entirely - I believe here they're not counting Mario and Sonic games, which would in that case count for a bit under half of Sonic games.
I don't know what titles they're including, but I'm pretty sure that Sonic Generations & Sonic & All Star Racing Transformed shifted a decent amount of units not just among the hardcore Sonic fans.
Mike and Mathieu are right and I wouldn't be surprised if Sonic Colors also helped with the sales. In my opinion, that game was/is actually good and has the feel of old school Sonic games at times.
EDIT: Just saw, they are only counting one Nintendo platform, the Wii, while they excluded the Nintendo DS (I see no reason why), this explains the chart position.
@Adam: Just Dance is actually _huge_! Its sales are well-documented.
If you were to actually include mobile, Mario Kart would feature way higher, Pokemon would be in the top end, and Brain Training would be featuring pretty high up the bottom end of the list. That would at a minimum bump Elder Scrolls off the list, and Sega would be missing entirely - I believe here they're not counting Mario and Sonic games, which would in that case count for a bit under half of Sonic games.