{"id":40169,"date":"2026-01-24T16:15:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T16:15:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/news\/gamings-most-fun-sales-data-is-full-of-old-and-obscure-games\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T16:15:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T16:15:48","slug":"gamings-most-fun-sales-data-is-full-of-old-and-obscure-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo4.dedicatedhost247.com\/news\/gamings-most-fun-sales-data-is-full-of-old-and-obscure-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaming\u2019s most fun sales data is full of old and obscure games"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Every month, Circana video game analyst Mat Piscatella posts fascinating data about video game sales on Bluesky, highlighting trends like November\u2019s historically bad month for game hardware<\/a> and Battlefield 6<\/em>\u2019s big launch in October<\/a>. But he doesn\u2019t just share data about what is selling the most; as of late, he\u2019s also posted delightful lists of games that have sold just a single physical copy over a certain period of time, and the lists often include retro games that take me down memory lane or titles that I didn\u2019t even know existed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The list of games that sold one physical copy in October<\/a>, for example, includes the Xbox 360 version of Burnout Paradise<\/em> and Hasbro Family Game Night 3<\/em> for the PS3. On Thursday, Piscatella posted the \u201c2025 Circana Thread for Sickos<\/a>\u201d highlighting games that only sold one physical unit over the whole year<\/em> across various handhelds and consoles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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That list of games that sold a single unit in October was born out of a question<\/a> from a user on Bluesky, Piscatella tells The Verge<\/em>. \u201cPeople seemed to enjoy the combination of journey down memory lane and the treasure hunting idea of these games being out there somewhere,\u201d Piscatella says. Then people started asking him about it, so he thought it\u2019d be fun to keep doing it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Circana is able to track the data because it has agreements with \u201call major retailers\u201d that let it compile and analyze point-of-sale data, Piscatella says. \u201cI\u200b\u200bf a retailer\u2019s point-of-sale system scans a product as a sale, it will show up in the data.\u201d That means all the games he has mentioned in these threads \u201chad one new unit floating around out there somehow that was sold through a register or via an online purchase. Perhaps it was a unit that had been lost somewhere in the back, or was buried under a display, or who knows.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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While it\u2019s fun to look back and laugh at some of the games people bought \u2014 I feel sorry for the poor soul who purchased Metroid: Other M<\/em> for the Wii last year \u2014 people buying an older, obscure game from a store is more common than you might think, Piscatella says. \u201cThere were more than 1,000 games across all platforms (including PC) that sold between one and five new physical units in the US during 2025, while over 3,500 different games sold at least one new physical unit at retail last year overall,\u201d according to Piscatella. \u201cRetailers have all kinds of stuff hidden away in those stores of theirs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I asked Piscatella how long he plans to continue making the threads highlighting games selling just one copy. \u201cSo long as it stays fun, I reckon,\u201d he says. \u201cBut who knows.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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