Chicago's Mortal Kombat X Is The Best Selling Video Game Of 2015
By Justin Freeman in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 4, 2015 2:45PM
Recently, Fortune reported that Mortal Kombat X is the best selling game of 2015 so far, making more money than contenders such as the newest editions of Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto.
The data is built from non-public hard sale numbers compiled by the The NPD Group, a company of market researchers based in New York. They’ve taken six months of data on physical sales of video games across all platforms from the beginning of January to the end of June.
The top ten best selling games of 2015, in order:
1. Mortal Kombat X
2. Grand Theft Auto V
3. Battlefield Hardline
4. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
5. Minecraft
6. Batman: Arkham Knight
7. Dying Light
8. NBA 2K15
9. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
10. Super Smash Bros.
Right on. This seems about correct, but we have some questions. According to Fortune, the data apparently does not include digital sales from Playstation Store and other digital storefronts. Digital sales seem quite important in tabulating the total sales of digital goods such as video games.
We also wonder if DLC was taken into account. Downloadable content, commonly known as DLC, is the modern equivalent of gaming expansion packs that you’d buy physical copies of at a store. For example, let’s say you finished the game you’ve been playing, really enjoyed it and want to continue. The developer could create and release additional content for that game as DLC that you can purchase, download and play.
Mortal Kombat X’s DLC ranges from additional fighters to alternate outfits for your fighters, at the cost of a few dollars apiece. For example, you can buy and fight as Jason Vorhees, that guy in the hockey mask from the Friday the 13th movies, for $5. These microtransactions have to mean something to the game’s overall financial health, and we wonder if the the report took those DLC sales into account.
Mortal Kombat X was developed by Avondale-basedNetherRealm Studios, which was founded by Ed Boon. Boon created the original Mortal Kombat during his time at Midway Games in the '90s.
We recently talked about an upcoming documentary focusing on Midway in the '90s and we assume Boon will play a large part in that discussion. Unsurprisingly, NetherRealm has specialized in fighting games so far. The only non-Mortal Kombat game they’ve created is 2013’s DC Comics fighting game, Injustice: Gods Among us— which effectively was Mortal Kombat, but with Batman fighting Lex Luthor and no fatalities or excessive violence.
Mortal Kombat X was released in April.