The most successful games of the first half of 2025 in numbers: a detailed look at revenue, sales, and other metrics

We're wrapping up the week with an extensive piece on the most successful game releases from the past six months. Today, we'll talk about the top-grossing newcomers, sales leaders, and key indie games on PC and consoles. If a title hasn't been given its own section, you'll likely find it on one of the various charts.

Some of the games discussed in this article

Monster Hunter Wilds

• Release Date: February 28
• Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
• Official Sales: 10.1 million copies in the first month (as of March 31)
• Steam Revenue and Sales (D30*): $346.9 million | 6.2 million copies
• Steam Revenue and Sales (LTD*): $429.4 million | 7.7 million copies
• Sales in the USA (PC and consoles): February's top-seller | the best-selling game of the year from January–May (including both old and new releases)
• Sales in the UK (physical copies): debuted at 1st place | stayed in the chart for 14 weeks (dropped out of the top-40 only on June 10)
• Sales in Japan (physical copies): Over 600,000 copies in the first week | 814,000 copies by June 29 (second best among 2025 releases)
• Peak Online on Steam: 1,384,608 concurrent users (CCU), the best result of 2025
• Audience Activity: 14th place in global MAU by February's end | 11th in March, 18th in April (the only new release to remain in the top-20 three months in a row)

*Data for the first 30 days post-release (D30) and from the start of sales until June 30 (LTD)

The new installment of one of Capcom's flagship franchises can be unequivocally called the most successful release of the first half of 2025—both on consoles and PC. This is evidenced by official sales figures, Steam revenue data, and the game's chart positions. Although Monster Hunter Wilds began to lose ground in June, no other released titles can quite compete with it except perhaps Mario Kart World.

Even without accounting for China, where a significant portion of the game's audience resides, it shows impressive MAU metrics. Wilds even briefly approached the top-10 most popular titles on PC and consoles, a list that remains largely unchanged and consists exclusively of successful service games like Fortnite and massive franchises such as Call of Duty (see table below).

Mario Kart World

• Release Date: June 5
• Platforms: Nintendo Switch 2
• Sales in the UK: Three consecutive weeks at 1st place in the chart | overtaken by Death Stranding 2 in the fourth week, reclaimed the top spot in the fifth week
• Sales in Japan: 782,500 copies in the first week, best debut of the year | over 1.1 million copies in four weeks
• Sales in the USA (physical copies): ≈870,000 copies in the first week (according to Circana, 79% out of 1.1 million Switch 2 buyers in the USA also purchased Mario Kart World either on a physical medium or as part of a console bundle)

The success of Nintendo Switch 2's launch exclusive was never in doubt. However, Mario Kart World's numbers are nonetheless impressive. Despite limited data, the game can confidently be named one of the top releases from January to June. A million physical copies sold in Japan and strong chart positions in other countries should help it remain at the top by year-end.

Split Fiction

• Release Date: March 6
• Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2
• Official Sales: 4 million copies in two months
• Steam Revenue and Sales (D30): $129.1 million | 3.2 million copies
• Steam Revenue and Sales (LTD): $159.2 million | 3.9 million copies
• Sales in the USA (PC and consoles): 5th place in the March chart | 8th place among the best-selling games of 2025 from January–May (7th among new releases)
• Sales in the UK (physical copies): 1st place in the debut week | remained in the top-40 for 17 consecutive weeks (best performance among new 2025 releases)
• Sales in Japan (physical copies): less than 4,500 copies in two weeks
• Peak Online on Steam: 259,003 CCU | 5th place among 2025 releases
• Audience Activity: in the first two weeks ranked 9th and 13th in the most popular games list in the U.S. Steam in terms of WAU

Hazelight Studios has once again created a cooperative hit. The game performed well across all platforms. In less than four months, it generated almost $160 million on Steam—third best among new releases. In terms of first-month revenue, it ranks second, only behind Monster Hunter Wilds.

Split Fiction also sells well on consoles, as evidenced by its physical sales in the UK, where Hazelight's project has remained in the top-40 for 17 consecutive weeks.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II

• Release Date: February 4
• Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
• Official Sales: 3 million copies in two months
• Steam Revenue and Sales (D30): $118.1 million | 2.4 million copies
• Steam Revenue and Sales (LTD): $160.5 million | 3.3 million copies
• Sales in the USA (PC and consoles): 2nd place in February's chart | 6th among the best-selling games of 2025 from January–May (5th among new releases)
• Sales in the UK (physical copies): 1st place in the debut week | stayed in the chart for 12 weeks, with seven weeks consecutively
• Sales in Japan (physical copies): 9,500 copies in three weeks
• Peak Online on Steam: 256,206 CCU | 6th place among 2025 releases
• Other Data: Most downloaded game in February in the European PS Store (2nd place in the USA)

The sequel to the hardcore RPG by Warhorse Studios significantly outperformed the first part, becoming a global hit right from its launch. It ranks 2nd on Steam's list of best-selling new releases, only behind Monster Hunter Wilds. In terms of sales from January to June, it stands at 8th place.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

• Release Date: April 22
• Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
• Official Sales: 4 million players in three days (including Game Pass)
• Steam Revenue and Sales (D30): $41.3 million | 1.4 million copies
• Steam Revenue and Sales (LTD): $48.7 million | 1.7 million copies
• Sales in the USA (PC and consoles): 1st place in April's chart | 2nd among the top-grossing games from January–May (only behind Monster Hunter Wilds)
• Peak Online on Steam: 216,784 CCU | 7th place among 2025 releases
• Other Data: Most downloaded game in April in the American PS Store (2nd in Europe) | 6th and 8th in May, 14th and 16th in June

The Oblivion Remaster, which only had marketing leaks for its announcement and release dates, turned out to be highly sought after and became one of the year's major hits in just a few months. It took less than two months for the project to rise to 2nd place on the list of the highest-grossing games in the USA from January to May. And this despite being available on Game Pass.

Oblivion Remastered also showed excellent results on Steam, debuting at 1st place globally and staying in the top-100 for eight consecutive weeks. Against this backdrop, the VG Insights data on gross revenue (less than $50 million) appears undervalued. For example, GameDiscoverCo estimated it at $105 million at the end of April.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

• Release Date: April 24
• Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
• Official Sales: 3.3 million copies in 33 days
• Steam Revenue and Sales (D30): $95.1 million | 2.5 million copies
• Steam Revenue and Sales (LTD): $133.7 million | 3.4 million copies
• Sales on PlayStation: 1.3 million copies (according to Alinea Analytics)
• Sales in the UK (physical copies): 2nd place in the debut week | climbed to 1st place by the end of the third week
• Sales in Japan (physical copies): 24,000 copies in seven weeks
• Peak Online on Steam: 145,063 CCU | 10th place among 2025 releases
• Other Data: 13th place in the world’s top-grossing games on PC and consoles in April | rose to 8th place in May, second only to Elden Ring Nightreign among 2025 releases

Undoubtedly the main project of 2025 outside the AAA segment. This is evidenced by both official sales data and Expedition 33's chart rankings. For instance, on Steam, it debuted at 3rd place, remaining in the top-20 for a total of nine weeks. It is clear that Game Pass did not hinder the project's commercial success.

On consoles, Expedition 33 also performs exceptionally well: it has been in the top-10 most downloaded titles in both the American and European PS Store for three months running. Notably, Alinea Analytics estimates the sales of Sandfall Interactive's debut project on Sony's platform at 1.3 million copies.

Elden Ring Nightreign

• Release Date: May 29
• Platforms: PC, PS4/5, Xbox One/Series X|S
• Official Sales: 3.5 million copies in five days
• Steam Revenue and Sales (D30): $112.4 million | 3.5 million copies
• Steam Revenue and Sales (LTD): $116.7 million | 3.6 million copies
• Sales in the USA (PC and consoles): 1st place in May's chart | 11th place among the top-grossing games from January–May
• Sales in the UK (physical copies): 3rd place in the debut week | stayed in the chart for three weeks
• Sales in Japan (physical copies): 76,700 copies in five weeks (11th among the top-selling new releases of 2025) 
• Peak Online on Steam: 313,593 CC | 3rd place among 2025 releases
• Other Data: 2nd place among the most downloaded games in the American PS Store for May (5th in Europe) | 3rd and 6th places in June

FromSoftware continues to capitalize on the success of Elden Ring. Last year, the studio released the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, which sold 5 million copies in just three days. The spin-off Nightreign, where developers attempted to adapt the formula for session-based gameplay with simplified battle royale and roguelike elements, performed slightly worse. However, it's likely that both FromSoftware and Bandai Namco are extremely pleased with the new release's results.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows

• Release Date: March 20
• Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
• Official Sales: 3 million players in the first week (≠ sold copies)
• Steam Revenue and Sales (D30): $31.5 million | 563,500 copies
• Steam Revenue and Sales (LTD): $37.8 million | 680,000 copies
• Sales in the USA (PC and consoles): 1st place in March's chart | 2nd among the top-grossing games from January–May
• Sales in the UK (physical copies): three weeks at 1st place in the chart | stayed in the top-40 for 15 consecutive weeks (second best among new 2025 releases)
• Sales in Japan (physical copies): 33,000 copies in eight weeks
• Peak Online on Steam: 64,825 CCU | 21st place among 2025 releases
• Other Data: Most downloaded game in March in the European PS Store (2nd place in the USA) | 7th and 9th places in April, 18th and 20th in May

The new installment of Assassin's Creed has undoubtedly been successful. The question remains whether its long-term sales will satisfy Ubisoft, which critically needs stable revenue streams right now.

Shadows' commercial performance is quite mixed. On one hand, it shows impressive resilience in European retail—alongside Mario Kart World, it's the only 2025 release that managed to stay at 1st place for three consecutive weeks. On the other hand, its Steam metrics are quite average, and this is despite the game being released on Valve's store without delays. Although Assassin's Creed's main audience traditionally resides on consoles, Shadows doesn't quite achieve the status of a global hit.

Main Indie Sensations of the Year

R.E.P.O.

• Release Date: February 26
• Platforms: PC
• Steam Revenue and Sales (D30): $22.6 million | 2.9 million copies
• Steam Revenue and Sales (LTD): $60.1 million | 7.8 million copies
• Peak Online on Steam: 271,571 CCU | 4th place among 2025 releases

Schedule I

• Release Date: March 24
• Platforms: PC
• Official Sales: 
• Steam Revenue and Sales (D30): $72.8 million | 4.7 million copies
• Steam Revenue and Sales (LTD): $100.4 million | 6.4 million copies
• Peak Online on Steam: 459,075 CCU | 2nd place among 2025 releases

These games, released a month apart, became an absolute sensation on Steam. They share much in common: cooperative gameplay, simple graphics, small development teams, and the absence of any publisher support.

Apart from Expedition 33, Schedule I and R.E.P.O. rank as the two highest-grossing indie games of 2025 on Steam. Other successful titles from independent studios include Deltarune ($32 million), Rematch ($29.5 million), PEAK ($19.2 million), Broken Arrow ($16.2 million), and Sultan’s Game ($13.5 million).

If we only consider self-published projects, the list would include games like Hello Kitty Island Adventure ($5.8 million) and Drive Beyond Horizons ($4.3 million).

Throughout the first half of the year, over thirty indie games on Steam earned more than a million dollars.

Other Successful Releases of the First Half of 2025

Stellar Blade

• Release Date: June 11
• Platforms: PC
• Official Sales: 1 million copies in three days (total sales, including the PS5 version, amount to 3 million copies)
• Steam Revenue and Sales (LTD): $89.6 million | 1.87 million copies in 28 days
• Peak Online on Steam: 192,078 CCU | 8th place among 2025 releases

Dune: Awakening

• Release Date: June 10
• Platforms: PC
• Official Sales: 1 million copies in two weeks
• Steam Revenue and Sales (LTD): $58.6 million | 1.4 million copies in 29 days
• Peak Online on Steam: 189,333 CCU | 9th place among 2025 releases

Sid Meier’s Civilization VII

• Release Date: February 10
• Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 1-2
• Steam Revenue and Sales (D30): $55 million | 947,000 copies
• Steam Revenue and Sales (LTD): $64.4 million | 1.1 million copies
• Sales in the USA (PC and consoles): 3rd place in February's chart | 10th among the top-grossing games from January–May
• Sales in the UK (physical copies): 2nd place in the debut week | remained in the chart for seven weeks
• Sales in Japan (physical copies): 
• Peak Online on Steam: 84,558 CCU | 18th place among 2025 releases

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach

• Release Date: June 26
• Platforms: PS5
• Sales in the UK (physical copies): 1st place in the debut week | briefly dethroned Mario Kart World, dropped to 3rd in the second week
• Sales in Japan (physical copies): 71,900 copies in the debut week (12th among the best-selling new releases of 2025)
• Sales: 500,000 copies in the first day (VG Insights) | 687,000 copies by the end of June (Alinea Analytics)

DOOM: The Dark Ages

• Release Date: May 15
• Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S
• Steam Revenue and Sales (D30): $38.8 million | 693,000 copies
• Steam Revenue and Sales (LTD): $41.7 million | 745,000 copies
• Sales in the USA (PC and consoles): 2nd place in May's chart | 16th among the top-grossing games from January–May
• Sales in the UK (physical copies): 1st place in the debut week | stayed in the chart for six consecutive weeks
• Sales in Japan (physical copies): 1,319 copies in the first week
• Peak Online on Steam: 84,558 CCU | 18th place among 2025 releases
• Other Data: 4th place among the most downloaded games in the American PS Store for May (9th in Europe)