A list of the best-selling PS5 games has been published, showing several Sony exclusives sandwiched between Call Of Duty and Hogwarts Legacy.

Sony’s PlayStation 5 celebrates its fifth anniversary this week, and while there have been some notable games within that time, it’s hard to argue that it’s been anything other than a generation of untapped potential.

The resources invested into failed live service projects, and rising development costs at large, are mostly to blame, which has led to a first party drought where Ghost Of Yōtei and Death Stranding 2 were the only Sony-published games in 2025 – and only one of those was made by an internal studio.

Some commentators, particularly Xbox execs, have tried to claim that exclusives are an outdated concept, but that’s not how it looks when you see a list of the best-selling PlayStation 5 games in the US, across the entire generation so far.

To mark the console’s fifth anniversary, Circana boss Mat Piscatella shared the top 10 PlayStation 5 games ranked by dollar sales.

Unsurprisingly, Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 is in the top spot, with previous entries Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3 claiming the third and fifth spots, respectively.

There’s the usual glut of sports games, like EA Sports College Football 25, which made a massive splash in the US last year, claiming the fourth spot. NBA 2K25 and NBA 2K24, meanwhile, close out the top ten. (The chart would likely be little different in the UK, just with the sports titles swapped for FIFA/EA Sports FC).

The only other third party title in the top 10 is Hogwarts Legacy, which was a huge hit when it launched in 2023. A sequel is currently in development.

The remaining three spots are all occupied by Sony first party games, namely Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 in second, God of War Ragnarök at number seven, and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales at number eight. All of these have since made their way to PC.

While Sony has released other PlayStation exclusives aside from these, such as Returnal and Astro Bot, you might be wondering why Sony hasn’t pushed for more first party titles in this same mould, given how well they’ve sold.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales was a cross-gen launch title for the PlayStation 5, so it would naturally be a big-seller, but Sony hasn’t released any half-sequels in the years since, which would, in theory, help curb the long development time between titles.

There have been rumours of a God Of War half-sequel in the same vein, but considering we’ve heard nothing about it since 2022’s God Of War Ragnarök, it’s starting to feel less likely.

Insomniac is rumoured to be working on a Venom sequel to Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 but, again, this hasn’t been officially announced, and with the studio launching Marvel’s Wolverine next year, it might not materialise until 2027 at the earliest.

For a point of comparison, there was only a two year gap between 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man and Spider-Man: Miles Morales, so these shorter-than-usual turnarounds are certainly achievable even with triple-A games. Similarly, 2017’s Uncharted: The Lost Legacy came out only a year after Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.

It all suggests Sony’s priorities have changed quite drastically in recent years, with less notable games to show for it. The main kicker might be whether these high sales actually recoup the budgets, with Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 costing over $300 million to make – triple the budget of the first game.

Either way, this list is a clear sign of what works for PlayStation; it just needs to find a cost effective way to execute on it.

If this year has been light on PlayStation exclusives, 2026 might be a slight improvement, with Saros and Marvel’s Wolverine both slated for next year.

It’s been three years since our last dose of Kratos, DLC aside (Sony Interactive Entertainment)

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