Violent video games have attracted attention in recent weeks, being partiallyblamed for the mass shootingsin the United States. Despite this, sales data from some of the biggest retailers in the country reveal that players are actually enjoying a huge variety of video games, and very few of the best sellers in July were violent.
Sales data gathered byThinknumon video games sold at GameStop, Amazon, and Walmart show that the games moving the most copies in July varied wildly. Largely as a result of sales promotions, older titles likeCall of Duty: Infinite WarfareandBattlefield1cracked Walmart’s top 10, but they were joined byMinecraft: Story ModeandNBA 2K17. Walmartreceived criticismlast week when it began removing displays promoting violent video games, despite continuing to sell firearms and ammunition.
GameStop’s top 10 in July was dominated by Pokémon, including pre-orders for the upcoming gamesSwordandShield. While several of the titles included some form of violence, onlyCall of Duty: Modern Warfarefeatures realistic blood and has not yet been released.
Amazon’s best-sellers for July were also largely family-friendly, with onlyThe Last of Us RemasteredandFallout 76getting a “Mature” rating from the ESRB. Several others are family-friendly games on Nintendo Switch, includingMario Kart 8 DeluxeandSuper Mario Maker 2.
The NPD Group, which monitors sales data for the industry across both retail and digital channels, does show that for thetotal of 2019thus far, there are several violent games included in the charts, such asMortal Kombat 11andCall of Duty: Black Ops 4. However, these are joined byMLB 19: The ShowandKingdom Hearts III. More recently,MinecraftandCrash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueledgained momentum, as well.
It’s impossible to say if violent video games will fall out of popularity yet, but since players are clearly enjoying other types of games, as well, it’s unlikely we actually have an epidemic of young people being desensitized to real-life atrocities. Thenumbers don’t back up that claim, either, with little evidence to suggest those who play violent games are more likely to commit mass murder.
