Hogwarts Legacy has become the first game outside the Call of Duty series or developed by Rockstar to top sales in the United States in the last 15 years

In 2023, Hogwarts Legacy emerged as a true leader in the video game industry, becoming the top-grossing game, disregarding the number of copies sold. This information comes from Matt Piscatella, the executive director of the research firm Circana.

This marks the first instance in the last 15 years where a game not affiliated with the Call of Duty series or created by Rockstar has claimed the top spot in terms of revenue. The last game to achieve such success was Rock Band back in 2008.

Despite the success of Hogwarts Legacy, Call of Duty maintains its position as the best-selling franchise in the United States in 2023 (excluding additional content) for an unprecedented 15 years. Modern Warfare 3 secures the second spot in the annual software rankings, with Modern Warfare 2 at seventh.

Madden NFL 24 claimed the third position, surpassing the PS5 exclusive Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, which secured the fourth spot.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom rightfully claimed the fifth spot, relying solely on physical sales since Nintendo does not provide data on digital sales for inclusion in Circana's reports.

On the hardware front, the PS5 emerged as the top-selling console last year in both units sold and revenue, followed by the Nintendo Switch and Xbox Series X/S.

The success of the PS5 aided Sony in setting a new monthly record for PlayStation hardware revenue in December, surpassing the previous peak recorded in December 2022.