IndustryGamers: With 2009 more than half over at this point, we're starting to get a sense of which games have been driving sales and which titles will ultimately end up atop the charts at the end of the year. It's been a down year so far, with five consecutive months of decline lately, but the back half of 2009 is still pretty packed with some amazing games, which should help boost the market.
In this special feature, IndustryGamers gazes into its magical crystal ball (hey, if the analysts can do it, so can we!) to guesstimate the final tally for the top 20 best selling games at U.S. retail for 2009. Game sales are not an easy thing to predict – if they were, everyone would have $3 billion in cash like Activision Blizzard – but we took our best stab at it.
Of course, when 2009 comes to a close and we have the actual numbers, you can feel free to rake us over the coals with these guesses. Here's our list, with unit sales guesstimates, for this year's top 20...
Helldivers 2 players have taken it upon themselves to shoot those wearing pre-order armor. The developers are asking those involved to stop this undemocratic behavior.
Soul Covenant feels like a game from the early 2000s, with its repetitive gameplay loop, waggle controls, and nonsensical story.
Indie developer Carlos Alfonso is working on Cold VR, a game where standing still isn't an option. The complete opposite to SUPERHOT VR.
Pretty good guesses. I agree with most of them, although I think Uncharted 2 might sell more. It's a big PS3 game and with the PS3 slim perhaps more people will pick it up as well. I don't think ODST will do Halo 3 numbers as it's basically an expansion so 3-5 million sounds about right. And of course, most of the top 10 will be wii titles.
I think Uncharted 2 might get a boost from the PS3 slim sales. Otherwise this list seems pretty much what I'd expect.