Action RPG

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Massively Outsold the Original Oblivion in the U.S. in its First Month

BBG News

In an unforeseen move towards the end of the month, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered was released, and within a single week, it significantly outperformed the initial sales of Oblivion over its first 15 months in the market.

The information here originates from Circana, indicating that Oblivion has achieved remarkable success. In the U.S., for the month of April, it was not only the top-selling game in terms of dollar sales but also ranked third among all games sold in 2025 to date. Moreover, it outperformed the original Oblivion by selling more units in a single month than the latter managed during its first 15 months, and generated more revenue in its first 14 months. Although this may not be entirely surprising due to the significantly larger market Oblivion entered in 2025 compared to 2006, it’s still an impressive accomplishment.

Here are some top 20 titles from April that offer intriguing spins on common chart entries. In the second spot for the month is Forza Horizon 5, which climbed up from No.42 last month thanks to its PS5 debut. Right behind it at No.3 is MLB: The Show 25. Coming in fourth place is Minecraft, which moved up from No.11 and likely benefited from the release of the Minecraft film earlier in April.

Last month’s champion, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, was placed at No.5 this time around, and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle took the No.6 spot. Thanks to its PS5 launch, similar to Forza, it climbed up from No.118 last month. As Circana analyst Mat Piscatella points out, four out of the top five, and five out of the top seven, top-selling games for the month on PlayStation platforms were published by Microsoft.

It’s noteworthy that The Last of Us: Part 2 moved up from position 23 to 13 this month, which could be due to the release of its second TV series. On the other hand, Schedule 1 doesn’t show up in sales charts, but it did take the top spot for U.S. monthly active users on Steam; Call of Duty held the lead on PlayStation and Xbox MAU charts.

If you’re a fan of RPG games, you might be curious about the whereabouts of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. According to Piscatella, publisher Kepler Interactive doesn’t disclose digital sales data with Circana, which means that the digital sales of Expedition 33 may not have been tallied and possibly caused it to be missing from any chart. However, Piscatella did mention that its physical sales placed it among the top 35 best-sellers in April, ranking 22nd on PlayStation, 19th in monthly active users on Xbox, and 21st on Steam. He added that the game was launched towards the end of the month and started off slowly, but its player count rankings have been improving each week since launch up until May 10. This suggests that despite not being counted digitally, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 has had a very successful run for a game of its kind.

The game has been positively acclaimed by hardcore gamers, but hasn’t yet gained much mainstream popularity. However, as more physical copies are released and people talk about it, we’ll see if May brings a larger audience.

In summary, the total consumer spending on video games in April decreased by 3% compared to last year, amounting to approximately $4.1 billion. Spending on content, excluding mobile subscriptions, experienced a drop of 2%. However, non-mobile subscription spending, console digital premium downloads showed an increase, while all other content categories saw a decrease. Additionally, spending on accessories declined by 2% as well.

In the U.S. market, hardware sales hit a new low for monthly dollar totals since July 2020, decreasing by 8%. The PlayStation 5 continued to be the top-selling console in terms of both units and dollars, although its sales dropped by 5% compared to last year. Contrastingly, the Nintendo Switch saw a 37% decrease, while the Xbox Series console experienced an 8% growth in sales over the same period last year.

April 2025 U.S. Top 20 Best-Selling Games:

  1. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion: Remastered (NEW)
  2. Forza Horizon 5
  3. MLB: The Show 25
  4. Minecraft*
  5. Assassin’s Creed: Shadows
  6. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
  7. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
  8. WWE 2K25
  9. NBA 2K25
  10. PGA Tour 2K25
  11. Monster Hunter: Wilds
  12. Split Fiction
  13. The Last of Us: Part 2
  14. EA Sports FC 25
  15. Grand Theft Auto V
  16. Red Dead Redemption 2
  17. The Elder Scrolls: Online
  18. Elden Ring
  19. Kingdom Come II: Deliverance
  20. Hogwarts Legacy

* The information provided by Circana does not encompass all digital sales. Some publishers, such as Nintendo, withhold certain digital data from being included in this particular report.

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2025-05-21 17:14

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