The Best-Selling Games on the PS3

When the PlayStation 3 arrived in 2006, it already had a bit of a reputation preceding it. The success of the PlayStation 2 made hopes high for its successor, but the system’s complex architecture meant it was incredibly difficult to develop for, with many third-party developers favoring Microsoft’s Xbox 360 instead. Many of the generation’s biggest games launched as multi-platform titles, but looking at the best-selling games on the PS3 shows that Sony’s first-party development studios had an advantage from being more familiar with the hardware. Thirteen of the system’s 20 best-selling games being PS3 exclusives is almost a predictor of how crucial Sony’s first-party titles would be to the PlayStation brand in successive generations.

• Release Date — April 29, 2008
• Developer — Rockstar North
• Publisher — Rockstar Games
• Genre — Action-Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 98% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 3.13 million units

For how critical the PS2 Grand Theft Auto trilogy was to the system’s success, you would anticipate that the series’ first next-gen entry would be one of the PS3’s best-sellers. However, while Grand Theft Auto IV sold an impressive 3 million units, its sales on the PlayStation 3 pale in comparison to both the performance of the PS2-era Grand Theft Auto games and the sales of Grand Theft Auto IV on the Xbox 360. Still, Grand Theft Auto IV has the distinction of being the best-reviewed game for the PlayStation 3, even if it somehow only sold one-tenth the units of its follow-up.

• Release Date — November 9, 2010
• Developer — Treyarch
• Publisher — Activision
• Genre — FPS
• Review Aggregate Score — 88% (Generally Favorable)
• Total Sales — 3.269 million units

The 7th console generation was fertile ground for the Call of Duty franchise’s rise to dominance in the FPS market. Following the incredible success of both Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2, Activision transitioned the Call of Duty series toward annual installments, with a slew of backup developers working on titles during Infinity Ward’s off-years — a tradition that carries on to this day. Treyarch’s second turn on the franchise was Call of Duty: Black Ops, which was a huge game for the series for a multitude of reasons. Not only was Black Ops the first game in the series to take place during the Vietnam War, it also marked the return of Treyarch’s Zombies mode that had made its previous Call of Duty game, World at War, so popular. That we’re getting the 7th Black Ops game this year only underscores the lasting impact of the original.

• Release Date — December 14, 2006
• Developer — Evolution Studios
• Publisher — Sony Computer Entertainment
• Genre — Driving/Racing
• Review Aggregate Score — 84% (Generally Favorable)
• Total Sales — 3.31 million units

The Gran Turismo games were far from the only successful first-party racers on the PS3. An oft-forgotten but excellent game, MotorStorm is an off-road racing title that both looked and played great, especially for its time, and served as one of the better early games in the PS3 library during the console’s first year on the market. MotorStorm‘s sales were similarly impressive, moving just over 3.3 million units at a time when just getting your hands on a PlayStation 3 was incredibly difficult (not to mention its then-asking price of $600). It’s a shame that Sony shuttered Evolution Studios in 2016 after just a few cult favorite racing games.

• Release Date — August 25, 2009
• Developer — Rocksteady Studios
• Publisher — Warner Bros. Games, Eidos Interactive
• Genre — Action-Adventure, Stealth
• Review Aggregate Score — 91% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 4.23 million units

Anyone who’s played Rocksteady’s Arkham games shouldn’t be surprised to see that the first two entries are some of the best-selling games of the entire 7th generation. Arkham Asylum, despite being the first Batman game in a while at a time when licensed games didn’t exactly have the best reputation, sold more than 4 million units based entirely on the strength of its incredible gameplay and use of some top-tier voice talent (including the late, great Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as The Joker). And thanks to the impressive success of Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady got to improve the formula with the groundbreaking Arkham City (and, later, Arkham Knight).

• Release Date — October 27, 2008
• Developer — Media Molecule
• Publisher — Sony Computer Entertainment
• Genre — Platformer
• Review Aggregate Score — 95% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 4.5 million units

Out of the three mainline games in the LittleBigPlanet series, the first is both the most successful and the best in the trilogy, elevated by an active community that created some truly impressive user-made levels. The PS3 was frankly hurting for solid 3D platformers at the time of LittleBigPlanet‘s release, which also allowed MediaMolecule’s iconic game to fill a very noticeable void in the system’s library. And LittleBigPlanet wasn’t even 3D! In many ways, you could almost attribute the modern push toward 2D platformers with 3D character and environmental models to the success of LittleBigPlanet.

• Release Date — November 27, 2014
• Developer — Capcom Production Studio 4
• Publisher — Capcom
• Genre — Survival Horror
• Review Aggregate Score — 83% (Generally Favorable)
• Total Sales — 4.6 million units

After years of being exclusive to the GameCube, Capcom brought the 2002 remake of Resident Evil to several then-modern platforms in the 2010s, including the PS3. The PS3 release of the Resident Evil remake would prove to be even more successful than the original had been on the PS1, selling nearly 5 million units and serving as the definitive HD re-release of the game (which has since been ported to just about every platform under the sun). It just so happens that it’s also one of the best games in the Resident Evil series and an example of how a remake of a beloved classic should be handled, too.

• Release Date — November 13, 2012
• Developer — Treyarch
• Publisher — Activision
• Genre — FPS
• Review Aggregate Score — 83% (Generally Favorable)
• Total Sales — 4.61 million units

The second Black Ops game would end up being even more successful than the first, selling nearly 5 million units and firmly establishing the Black Ops line of Call of Duty games as a series staple. Notably, Black Ops II‘s campaign was a turning point for the Call of Duty series, the first to feature futuristic warfare and weaponry as players switched between a Cold War set of levels that took place in the 1980s and a more modern conflict that took place in 2025. The campaign was just half of the package, though. Millions of players flocked to Call of Duty: Black Ops II based solely on the pull of its competitive multiplayer.

• Release Date — November 10, 2009
• Developer — Infinity Ward
• Publisher — Activision
• Genre — FPS
• Review Aggregate Score — 94% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 4.79 million units

Similar to Black Ops II, Modern Warfare 2 became an almost instantaneous success on 7th-gen consoles thanks to the unprecedented critical and commercial accolades enjoyed by Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. And with the pressure as high as it was to deliver an incredible sequel, Infinity Ward absolutely delivered, with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 having both one of the more memorable and controversial single-player campaigns of any FPS and a vastly improved multiplayer suite over its predecessor.

• Release Date — November 16, 2007
• Developer — Naughty Dog
• Publisher — Sony Computer Entertainment
• Genre — Action-Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 88% (Generally Favorable)
• Total Sales — 4.8 million units

Naughty Dog had already established itself as one of Sony’s most important first-party developers long before the PS3. Both Crash Bandicoot on the PS1 and Jak and Daxter on the PS2 had been some of each platform’s most successful and beloved franchises, which primed Naughty Dog to push the limits with Sony’s 7th-generation console. The studio’s first title for the PS3 would be Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, which, while the weakest entry in the series, still establishes Nathan Drake as an iconic video game protagonist and sets a high bar that future entries would repeatedly clear.

• Release Date — November 11, 2011
• Developer — Bethesda Game Studios
• Publisher — Bethesda Softworks
• Genre — Action RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 92% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 5 million units

PS3 owners originally had to wait for their own version of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, owing to both its place as a timed Xbox 360 exclusive and the difficulties that developing for the PS3 hardware presented. Thankfully, studios had mostly figured out how to work around the PlayStation 3’s complex architecture by the 2010s, which meant The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim could launch as a multiplatform title on day 1. Regardless of which platform you played it on, Skyrim was an inescapable phenomenon and one of the most impressive and immersive RPGs of the era or since, which makes it no surprise it sold 5 million units on the PS3 alone.

• Release Date — March 16, 2010
• Developer — Santa Monica Studio
• Publisher — Sony Computer Entertainment
• Genre — Action-Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 92% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 5.18 million units

The PS3 ended up being home to some of the most iconic closing chapters in beloved PlayStation franchises. One of the most climactic was God of War III, which chose not to evolve the series’ formula but instead refine it to deliver the best version of the gameplay loop fans of God of War and God of War II were familiar with. The result is one of the best-looking and best-playing games on the PlayStation 3, and it became an immediate must-have title for the console — especially for players eager to see how Kratos’ one-man crusade against the gods of Mount Olympus panned out.

• Release Date — December 6, 2013
• Developer — Polyphony Digital
• Publisher — Sony Computer Entertainment
• Genre — Driving/Racing
• Review Aggregate Score — 81% (Generally Favorable)
• Total Sales — 5.22 million units

The wait between Gran Turismo 5 and Gran Turismo 6 was surprisingly short given how much time typically passes between each entry of the iconic racing simulation series. It was released just a year before the launch of the PS4, which meant that Polyphony Digital (who are already experts at pushing PlayStation hardware to its limits) was able to make Gran Turismo 6 one of the most technically impressive titles on the console. Curiously enough, Gran Turismo 6 is one of the lowest-rated games in the series, which is a surprising juxtaposition against its strong sales of just over 5 million units.

• Release Date — December 13, 2007
• Developer — Polyphony Digital
• Publisher — Sony Computer Entertainment
• Genre — Driving/Racing
• Review Aggregate Score — 80% (Generally Favorable)
• Total Sales — 5.35 million units

The Gran Turismo series is one of Sony’s most important first-party properties, and players were eager to play the next entry in the series on their new PS3s. To help ease the wait and give players a taste of what’s to come, Polyphony Digital did something it had never done before (and hasn’t done since) by releasing an extended playable demo of Gran Turismo 5 with Gran Turismo 5: Prologue. Thanks to the anticipation for Gran Turismo 5 being so high, just the Prologue version sold more than 5 million units. Not too shabby for an unfinished version of a future release.

• Release Date — October 18, 2011
• Developer — Rocksteady Studios
• Publisher — Warner Bros. Games
• Genre — Action-Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 96% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 5.48 million units

Take one part Arkham Asylum and throw in a stunning open-world rendition of Gotham City, and you have Batman: Arkham City. Arkham City is arguably the best Batman game ever made and a strong contender for being one of the best open-world games of all time, which justifies its place as one of the PS3’s best-selling games with nearly 5.5 million units sold. It also happens to be the template for the modern superhero game, meaning without the success of Arkham City, we might never have gotten Insomniac’s excellent Spider-Man titles (or even its upcoming Wolverine game).

• Release Date — June 12, 2008
• Developer — Kojima Productions
• Publisher — Konami
• Genre — Action, Stealth
• Review Aggregate Score — 94% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 6 million units

Much like God of War III, Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots was the full-circle moment for the franchise that ended the saga of Solid Snake on the PS3 after two full generations of games that had been crucial to the success of PlayStation hardware. The original Metal Gear Solid was one of the PS1’s best-selling and most important games, as were its two sequels on the PS2. Fittingly, the climactic final chapter in Solid Snake’s story sold an estimated 6 million units and brought the story home in the way only Kojima could. Out of all the games on this list, Metal Gear Solid 4 is one of the only titles to remain trapped on old hardware as a PS3 exclusive, cementing its importance to the console’s legacy.

• Release Date — October 13, 2009
• Developer — Naughty Dog
• Publisher — Sony Computer Entertainment
• Genre — Action-Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 96% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 6.5 million units

The first Uncharted was a great, if not formulaic, action-adventure game that some jokingly brushed off as “Dude Raider”. But when it came to the sequel, Naughty Dog turned all of its dials up to 11, delivering one of the most exciting action games of all time with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Uncharted 2 makes it very clear right from its opening sequence that it’s going to be a different game from its predecessor, and it carries that breakneck pace all the way through to its surprisingly supernaturally-tinged ending sequences. As successful as the first Uncharted was, it was Uncharted 2 that made Nathan Drake a household name and ensured that the series would be a staple of the PlayStation ecosystem.

• Release Date — June 14, 2013
• Developer — Naughty Dog
• Publisher — Sony Computer Entertainment
• Genre — Action-Adventure, Stealth, Survival Horror
• Review Aggregate Score — 95% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 8.4 million units

After three successful Uncharted games on the PS3, all eyes were on Naughty Dog’s next game, which would be its final title on the system before focusing on development for the PlayStation 4. That game was, of course, The Last of Us, which is arguably one of the most important and iconic video games of all time when it comes to elevating the art of storytelling in interactive media, not to mention its place as a jumping-off point for a successful multimedia franchise. Back in 2013, though, players were simply blown away by The Last of Us‘ excellent blend of gritty melee combat, stealth, and survival horror elements, wondering how the same studio behind the relatively lighthearted Uncharted games could deliver a game so dark.

• Release Date — November 1, 2011
• Developer — Naughty Dog
• Publisher — Sony Computer Entertainment
• Genre — Action-Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 92% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 9 million units

Just ahead of The Last of Us as Naughty Dog’s most successful game on the PS3 is Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. Uncharted 3 has the unenviable position of following up the iconic Uncharted 2, but it still ended up being an incredible action game, even if it couldn’t quite match the highs of its immediate predecessor. That said, players’ fondness for both the first and second Uncharted games helped the third become an almost immediate sales success, with Uncharted 3 moving just over 9 million units and becoming the most successful game in the series until the eventual launch of its sequel on PS4.

• Release Date — November 24, 2010
• Developer — Polyphony Digital
• Publisher — Sony Computer Entertainment
• Genre — Driving/Racing
• Review Aggregate Score — 84% (Generally Favorable)
• Total Sales — 11.95 million units

It seems like Gran Turismo 5: Prologue had the intended effect of whetting players’ appetites, with the full release of Gran Turismo 5 quickly becoming one of the series’ best-selling games, far surpassing both its predecessor and its immediate sequel. What’s most impressive is that players had to wait nearly 5 years from the launch of the PS3 to even get their hands on the full version of Gran Turismo 5. It seems like the wait did little to diminish players’ anticipation or enjoyment of the title, with GT5 quickly becoming one of the PS3’s best-selling games and standing tall as the best game in the series of the 7th generation.

• Release Date — September 17, 2013
• Developer — Rockstar North
• Publisher — Rockstar Games
• Genre — Action-Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 97% (Universal Acclaim)
• Total Sales — 29.52 million units

Comparing the sales figures of Grand Theft Auto V to every other best-selling game in the PS3 library is eye-opening. It’s been ported numerous times since to modern hardware (eventually becoming one of the best-selling games on both the PS4 and the PS5), but that original PS3 release still sold nearly 30 million units, which means it sold ten times as many copies as its immediate predecessor (and nearly 3 times as many copies as the second best-selling game on the console). But, considering the popularity of Grand Theft Auto V and the Grand Theft Auto Online multiplayer mode, that success is hardly surprising.