PlayStation on Friday revealed the top downloaded games from the PlayStation Store for 2016, and while it's always interesting to see what the biggest hits are, the news is more that Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare probably is doing just fine, thanks very much.
First off, Rocket League took top honors among PlayStation 4’s most downloaded games. (“Downloaded” is a salient qualifier, but these are titles for sale in the marketplace, not freebies in PlayStation Plus.) And while Call of Duty's rival, Battlefield 1, was No. 2, Infinite Warfare took fourth place and no game above it had a later launch date. (No. 3 was Minecraft: PlayStation 4 Edition, which launched in 2014.)
It provides a little more context to the ongoing parlor game of speculating on Call of Duty's health. Last month, analysts citing proprietary NPD data (i.e. not supplied to the press or public) said Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare's sales in its launch month were off 50 percent from what Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 pulled in 2015. That figure, however, measured physical copy sales alone.
Even trailing Battlefield 1, Call of Duty making top 5 in the digital marketplace of PlayStation 4 — the franchise's lead platform since 2015 — suggests rumors of its poor sales health might be premature. PlayStation Blog did not release any numbers for any title beyond a ranking relative to the others.
Moreover, Call of Duty dominated the DLC sold through PlayStation Marketplace in 2016 — again, no doubt helped by timed exclusivity favoring the platform. Still, Black Ops 3 took 5 out of the top 10, including No. 1.
And for the month of December 2016 only, Infinite Warfare edged Battlefield 1, fifth place to sixth place. (Infinite Warfare also was the top seller on PlayStation Store in November.) The debut of Ark: Survival Evolved (Dec. 6 launch date) beat out Final Fantasy 15 (Nov. 29) for best of the month, too.
PlayStation Blog has the full list, segmented by platform (PS4, PS3, PS Vita, and PS Classics, plus PS4 DLC and PlayStation VR). Of particular note is the ongoing high performance of Grand Theft Auto 5 and the Rockstar goldmine in PS Classics. Also, Battlefield Hardline (2015 launch) and Battlefield 4 (2013) both made the top 15, no doubt helped by a weeklong promotion after E3 that dropped the price of both to $4.99.